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MODERN TENANTS OF THE AMERICAN POULTRY YARD. 



PART TWO. FIFTH EDITION. 



SECRETS 



IN 



FOWL BREEDING. 



By GEO. P. BURNHAM. 
A COMPANION TREATISE TO 

"DISEASES OF DOMESTIC POULTRY." 



PRICE, FIFTY CENTS, 

[COPTKIOHT, 1876, BY THE AUTHOR.] 



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MELROSE, MASS. 

1877. 



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Was- 



PREFACE. (Paet Two.) 






The present treatise, in form and size like its predecessor in the 
series, will be found devoted to explanations of some of the prominent 
SECRETS in fowl breeding which are not usually familiar to fanciers. 

Like the contents of my late previous work on " Poultry Diseases," 
this book is couched in plain language, and no attempt is made at a 
display of superior knowledge upon the points treated herein. What- 
ever is detailed, is set down as the results of practical personal experi- 
ence. A demonstrated fact is worth a thousand theories. 

Attention is called to the well executed frontispiece of this book. 
There may be counted some sixty specimens, of over twenty-five varieties 
of "Modern Tenants of the American Poultry- Yard," combined 
in this picture ; photographed, or -drawn and engraved for us, from the 
best standard domestic fowls in the United States. And these delinea- 
tions are accurate representations of all the prominent kinds of poultry 
now generally bred in this country — from the stalwart Light and 
Dark Brahmas or Cochins, to the diminutive Seabrights and Game 
Bantams, now popular among us. 

The improvement of domestic live stock of all descriptions (poultry 
included), observes S. L. Goodale in his " Principles of Breeding," so 
as greatly to enhance their individual and aggregate value, and to 
render the rearing of them more profitable to all concerned, is one of 
the achievements of advanced civilization and enlightenment; and is as 
much a triumph of science and skill, as is the construction of a railway, 
a steamship, a telegraph, or any grand work of architecture. 

Theories are promulgated, opinions are paraded before the public eye, 
and vast numbers of books are issued, giving us light occasionally upon 
many intricate points that have confused the ordinary mind through 
their natural but hitherto unaccounted-for ramifications. 

We know the fresh green blades of grass rise in the spring from the 
old rootlet that has been frozen solid six months in the previous winter's 
earth. Can we tell why — except on generally accepted principles? 
Or can we answer why the beautiful flower is produced, in due season, 
from the ugly little seed we deposit in the ground? 

How much less can we know (with all our study, arguments, and 
theories) how and why the almost invisible globular germ lying dor- 
mant within the egg-sack of a bird, may through Nature's inexplicable 
laws ripen to the hard-shelled egg; from which, through subsequent 
still more mysterious " incubation," comes forth the perfect living chick, 
in course of time ? 

The reader is referred to the following pages for some interesting 
facts regarding these secrets — wrought out through actual and re- 
peated experiment by The Author. 

Melrose, Mass., 1877. 




SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

PART TWO, 



SELECTING AND MATING POULTRY STOCK. 

One of the first secrets to be acquired by the ambitious 
fowl-keeper, is embodied in the title-line which heads this 
chapter. A consideration of primal consequence towards the 
successful reproduction of first-class improved domestic poultry 
is a proper and fortunate selection of the breeding stock, of 
whatever variety we may elect to experiment with. And this 
should be obtained from a reliable source, out of a well estab- 
lished " strain " of its class. 

An important secret in fowl-breeding is to ascertain, before 

'"^r mencing operations, if the birds the fancier may prefer 

to variety^ are the best bred or the purest-blooded to be 

, of their distinctive sort. It is idle to attempt to breed 



4 SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

good chickens from poor specimens, or from imperfect stock ; 
no matter what the kind of fowl may be that is chosen to 
begin witli. 

The taste of breeders differs widely among different men 
as to the class of fowls to which they give preference. And 
although the majority of poulterers now-a-days incline to favor 
the larger breeds, — as the Brahmas, the various colored 
Cochins, etc., — there are hundreds who prefer the Houdans, 
the Dorkings, the White and Brown Leghorns, the Black 
Spanish, the Polands, the Games, the Plymouth Rocks, the 
Dominiques, the Crested fowls, or even the beautiful little 
Bantams, as their choice. 

But each and all of these varieties are now so largely dis- 
seminated over this country, that there is little difficulty in 
obtaining any desired kind, at moderate cost ; it being neces- 
sary only to make surf that what is purchased be had from a 
source where the chosen birds have been carefully and honestly 
bred, as nearly as may be in their purity. 

We must not expect to obtain for our purposes absolutely 
pure-bred domestic fowls, however. There is no such thing. 
Yet the different notable " strains " of different varieties now 
produced in American yards are good enough. 

The several importations made by our breeders from China 
and England in the last thirty years have come to be a good 
deal "mixed," from time to time, on this side of the Atlantic; 
and it is now necessary to procure your fancy breeding stock 
of the best Americanized strains you can obtain. 

Among these established strains, as we have just hinted, 
there are many that are choice in quality, and as good as, or 
better, than the best ever imported from abroad ; rendered so 
through careful home cultivation among us. 

This point being satisfactorily determined, we should next 
enquire in advance if the specimens to be bought are nearlj- 
related — say brother and sisters. If the chicks chosen are 
from eggs laid by different hens of the same kind — though 
bred to the same cock — it is as well; provided the birds are 
nicely pointed, thrifty, and of good standard color. 



SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 5 

But the more distant the actual relationship is, the better ; 
since the progeny from birds bred too closely, in this respect, 
rarely prove so satisfactory as those obtained from stock (of 
both sexes) not nearly allied in kin. 

A chief secret in the production of the most uniformly 
good chicks, from any parentage, lies in securing a reliable 
sire^ and in breeding such a two-year old male bird upon 
one-year old pullets. Two-year old fowls of both sexes bred 
together, give us very good younglings. But I have found 
that vigorous twelve months old pullets, bred to a good cock 
in his full second year, will throw better chickens on the 
average than others — all things else being equal. 

In choosing your sire, it should be done with a view to 
reproducing his superior form, stamina, and color — whatever 
these maybe — in the variety selected. The cock must pos- 
sess these indicated qualities, in full vigor and beauty. Such 
male bird should be a good one, and he should be known to 
come from a reliable bird, like himself. 

If you breed the progeny thus obtained back to the old 
bird, you are pretty sure to retain the better qualities of yoxiv 
strain by the means, and are quite certain that yon will get the 
general color and symmetry of your first choice. 

For your hens, look for good layers, of generous size, color 
even and pure, of stout constitution and symmetrical form. 
From among their product select the best pointed and most 
perfect in general characteristics, for future breeding, and you 
will be largely successful, as a rule, in the end. 

The first one or two litters of eggs laid by pullets are not 
so serviceable, so sure, or so profitable for hatching, as are 
their later product. The eggs of two-3-ear old hens, bred to a 
one-year old cock, have proved very generally successful in my 
experience. I am quite satisfied, however, that the most 
reliable breeding-birds that can be mated together, as to age, 
are those of one sex or the other that are a year the oldest. 
Two-year old birds, of any variety, are deemed at their best 
age — by our most experienced breeders. 



6 SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

The cock should be changed every spring from one clutch 
of pullets to another. For fine breeding, the same cock 
should be bred to the same run of hens but for a single season. 
This is an excellent plan, and those who have not tried it, will 
learn its advantages through experience. 

Two cocks, in breeding-time, should never be kept with 
your hens in the same enclosure, whatever their age or their 
variety. The frequent contentious attention of two males to 
the hens, or pullets (even if the cocks do not quarrel with 
each other), not only annoys the females, but it absolutely 
injures them. And half the time this prevents the proper 
fertilization of the eggs you are desirous to hatch from this 
chosen stock. 

One male with eight or ten hens will furnish you more 
certainly and regularly with impregnated eggs than you can 
obtain from a larger number, as a rule. Yet, if you desire 
to breed from two cocks to such hens, the two males should 
be of the same variety, and of equally good quality ; and 
each may be placed with the hens upon alternate days, or 
weeks, during the season, to advantage. That is to say, 
with sixteen or twenty hens and pullets, kept by themselves, 
half in separate pens, the two cocks may be exchanged from 
week to week, from one pen to the other. We have found 
this a good and easily-managed plan. 

With self-colored birds, such as pure white, buff, or black 
fowls, the points to consider in mating are those of fine car- 
riage, perfect combs, symmetrical shape, fair size, moderate 
length of leg, broad, full breast, prime condition, and the 
absence of all foul feathers, discoloration of hackles, or any 
kind of deformity. 

A " hump-backed " bird, or one carrying a " wry tail," 
showing foul feathers, a hatchet-shaped breast, with over 
long legs, deformed comb or beak, a " hollow back," or weak 
hock-joints, should never be used to breed from. These 
infirmities, visible to the eye always, are transmissable to the 
progeny ; and from such fowls good uniform chicks can never 
be reproduced. 



SECEETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 7 

With parti-colored birds, such as the Brahmas, the Spangled 
Hamburgs, the Plymouth Rocks, the colored Games and 
Bantams, etc., this matter of mating, for the reproduction 
of prime specimens of their individual class, is a much 
nicer and more difficult operation to manage, either success- 
fully or satisfactorily. 

It is only through repeated experiment, careful selection 
of the best pointed and finest specimens in the first instance, 
and good taste as well as some knowledge of what is to be 
attempted subsequently, that the most desirable results can 
be attained. And there are few secrets in fowl-breeding so 
intricate, or so little understood generally, as is this process 
of mating parti-colored stock judiciously, more particularly 
in the work of breeding to color and feather. 

Out of the hundreds of good breeders at this time in 
America, some of whom raise large numbers of fine birds 
annually, there are few men who either comprehend or prac- 
tice this thing, nicely. They procure what is deemed first- 
class stock, put their often dearly-bought birds together, and 
are more or less fortunate in rearing promising chickens from 
the connection, as they receive them from the seller. 

But the fowls are frequently originally ill-mated in color 
or points. And shortly the buyer finds that he has got more 
than he bargained for in the progeny he produces from those 
costly "imported" or "premium" samples, of one variety 
or another, which do not breed accurately their cast of 
plumage, etc. 

No one who fancies fine stock can have a single year's 
experience without noting how difficult it is to accomplish 
his desired object in this respect, even with " the best " to 
begin with. And few careful novices in the work of poul- 
try-rearing are there, who do not quickly discover the value 
of extreme caution and critical judgment in their efforts in 
this mating of birds, to produce given results. 

It is a?Z-important, therefore, that shades of color in feath- 
ering, nice points in form and size, defined characteristics of 



8 SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

• superior quality, developed evidences of fertility in the hens, 
and of stamina, robustness, and vigor in the males, should be 
combined towards the promotion of accurate breeding. And 
these different qualities should all be brought to operate har- 
moniously with the two sexes, as well also as those of each 
upon the 'other, so that the highest degree of perfection in 
plumage, form, carriage, soundness and beauty, as well as 
usefulness, may be attained in a majority of the progeny 
produced from the contemplated ui>ion. 

To effect this, and to carry out successfully such a mode 
of management, requires study, a love of the interesting 
work, and watchful care, as well as good taste and judgment. 

By continuous experiment, through repeated trials, and 
from practical observation only, can the highest points be 
reached. To realize which, we propose to offer our views in 
these pages as to the best means that may be adopted for the 
consummation of this desirable object, Avhich we have 
acquired some knowledge of through long and varied ex- 
perience. 

And to accomplish this result, we must again insist upon 
one point that is too often overlooked, or not properly appre- 
ciated. And this is the nice selection of the sire from which 
we attempt to breed. 

It is quite beyond question the fact that the male bird is 
of the greatest consequence in this operation ; for, through 
him is transmitted a majority of the more desirable qualities, 
if he be a good one. 

He should not be over-sized, however — among the Cochins, 
and Brahmas, or the heavy colored Dorkings. A 14 or 
15 pound cock is never a good breeder. He answers for 
the show pen, but is not the thing in your breeding runs. 
And however much the novice may admire these stalwart 
specimens, to look at, he should never undertake to breed 
such a bird, with the expectation of reproducing his like with 
averaged-sized hens or pullets. 

A very nice thing to do, is the mating of parti-colored 



SECRETS IN" FOWL BREEDING. V 

fowls to produce a given cast of plumage in the progeny bred 
that shall be both what we aim to establish in a strain for 
color, and at the same time render the product thus obtained 
uniformly alike, or nearly so. 

Sir John Seabright (or, more likely, his poultry-keeper) 
effected a very rare thing in his final accomplishment of the 
beautiful Golden and Silver-Laced Bantams he originated, 
and which will always bear his name, because there was never 
anything like them before; and nothing surpassing them in 
good blood, in general characteristics, in beauty and precision, 
has ever since been created. 

The term "blood" or "blooded" animal, or fowl, has no 
meaning as applicable particularly to the uaturai crimson fluid 
that courses through the veins of the body. When we speak 
of a "blooded horse" for instance, we allude to the fact that ■ 
his pedigree is good, and his origin may be traced back to an 
Arab sire, or Barb, for example. 

A pure "blooded" bull, or ram, is simply one of a clearly 
distinct variety, or "strain" — inheriting from prime original 
stock, fixed and peculiar characteristics in style, form and 
stamina, which they can and do transmit to their progeny, in a 
similar marked degree. Thus with poultry. They are pure 
"blooded," when coming from a known established sire, or 
variety and breed closely like the originals ; as the Games, the 
Brahmas, the Cochins, the Seabrights, etc. 

But the " Seabright Bantams " were the result of long-tried 
and repeated experiments, in the hands of a skillful expert, 
who commenced his work with original wild or native East 
India stock, unquestionably ; and who established the colors 
and markings of his exquisitely plumed Bantams almost " to 
a feather," finally — after many trials and several years' breed- 
ing, back and forth. 

This beautiful result could not be attained in one year, or 
two, or- five — or in ten seasons, thus perfectly. But it was 
effected, at last. And now we have this breed, as fine as the 
originals, all over England and America — the prettiest and 



10 SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

most distinctive of all the pigmy races of domestic fowls in 
the known world. 

Sir John's success in this direction was suggestive. Scores 
of fanciers on both sides of the Atlantic have first and last 
made similar attempts at fixing a distinct color of feathering 
and markings upon some of the larger varieties of domestic 
fowls — with a view (if successful) to establishing and naming 
a breed that might possibly prove popular, and saleable, as a 
distinct new variety. 

To a certain extent this laudable aim has in one or two 
notable instances in later years succeeded, though the object 
is not yet quite perfected. And it will require still some years 
of very careful and studied mating and selecting, to establish 
the varieties now alluded to, en ])ermanence. 

For example, how many of the pare steel-gray Brahmas, 
strictly black and white in color and pencilling, which were 
originated in the yards of the author of this treatise, at Mel- 
rose, Mass., in 1852, and which were first exhibited at Bir- 
mingham, Eng., in 1853 and there named by Mr. Tegetmeier 
as " the new variety of Dark Brahmas," can be found in the 
United States or in England, among the thousands existing of 
this popular variety, to-day? 

Yet this was a fixed variety. And in our hands — bred as 
we originally bred it — clean and uncontaminated with any 
other stock, for years after 1852 and '53, the clear bright even 
pure steel-gray pullets and mottled-breasted cocks came as 
regularly marked and as uniform in color as were those 
which " astonished and delighted English fanciers," when Mr. 
Burnham sent over to London his first samples of this beauti- 
ful breed ; which no one ever claimed to have seen before, 
and which no one since has been able to produce from an}' 
stock that has succeeded these first ones, either in Great 
Britain or upon this side of the water. 

The Plymouth Rocks are another instance of breeding to 
feather, through crossing of original strong-blooded fowls, and 
by subsequent careful selection and mating, to produce clear 



SECEETS IN FOWL BEEEDING. " 11 

color and markings of plumage. Much has already resulted 
with these, in the right direction, so far. But they are yet 
imperfect, and the cast of plumage and color of legs desired are 
not yet fixed, by any means ; although the Standard recognises 
them as a distinct breed. Undoubtedly, in time, these birds 
will produce their like, very accurately. 

The accepted "American Standard of excellence" in poul- 
try, of to-day, very clearly defines what is nearest to perfection 
in color and points, in every admitted distinct variety of 
domestic fowl. And although this high standard in breeding 
has not yet been fully reached, among the specimens which 
from time to time have been produced and adjudged from the 
yards of comj)etitors at our exhibitions, we have in many instan- 
ces approached very near this point of perfection, in later years. 

Improvements may still be made, however. And the course 
to be followed towards complete success, eventually, will be 
herein explained, in our present details touching some of the 
prominent " secrets in poultry breeding." 



ABOUT THOROUGHBRED FOWLS. 

I shall not enter upon a critical analyzation of the probable 
results that follow the " crossing " of two or more distinct 
breeds of fowls, or attempt to decide what proportion of 
either blood thus crossed enters into the composition of the 
progeny bred from them. 

I do not believe it possible for any man to state with any 
degree of exactness how much of the Cochin^ for instance, 
may be embodied in a cross with a Leghorn^ or a barn-yard 
fowl, after the chicken produced is grown. It may be half- 
and-half. It may be a quarter and three-quarters — or other- 
wise. The chickens through such crosses " take after " the 
hens, mostly, or the progeny may be most like the cocks used. 
There is no rule that will apply invariably, in this process ; 



12 • SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

though I do not forget that one or two modern Avriters on 
poultry affirm with great precision how many eighths, six- 
teenths, or thirty-second parts of the blood of each parentage 
enter into the composition of the chicks produced by such a 
cross. This is a little too fine for me ! I have not been able, 
thus far in my experience to fathom this conundrum — and so 
I gave it up, years ago. 

I do not deem this point of much consequence, any way. 
But we call such chickens " half-breeds," usually. Yet it fre- 
quently happens that a vigorous Cochin or Light Brahma cock, 
introduced into the common farm-yard, will so stamp his 
image upon the chicks that result from this introduction of 
fresh blood, that the first cocks raised from this union will 
show all the characteristics of the foreign male bird so fully 
developed as to make them appear genuine Cochins or Bi-ahmas, 
to the inexperienced eye. But breed these chickens together, 
and their progeny will " throw back" to the original barn-yard 
parentage directly, and inevitably. 

I am now writing of what is denominated pure breeding, 
and not about crossing fowls. This last process is very well, 
in its place. If the farmer or poulterer who raises stock for 
eggs and market-supply only, desires to improve his common 
dunghill flocks, he can do this with certainty by introducing to 
his hens "blooded" cocks of the Dorking, Brahma, Cochin, 
Dominique, or Leghorn varieties, etc. 

But the fancier or amateur who desires to breed for com- 
petition at the public shows, for sales of modern improved 
breeding-stock, or to gratify his own pride and ambition to 
have good blood about him, must permit no amalgamation of 
varieties upon his premises.* I speak advisedly on this sub- 
ject. The week he attempts this folly, the flocks he thus 
tampers with are contaminated, and can no longer be talked 
of as pure breeds. 



* Mr. Felch criticises this opinion of mine, in a little work he recently printed. But 
all the standard authorities extant, to-day, agree with me on this point ; and hundreds 
of experiments have proved my position the correct one. G. P. B. 



SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. - 13 

It is possible that hens thus crossed, upon being again bred 
steadily to a cock of their own color and variety, may throw 
good chickens, mostly. But they can never be positively 
depended on, for purity, after such contamination. And this 
point we have incontestibly proven, by many an experiment — 
to our cost, in past years. 

We always advise novices in poultry-breeding to begin with 
one pure variety, only. Cultivate this thoroughly, before 
trying another or more breeds. And this mode will invariably 
prove the most instructive and most satisfactory. 

"Vyhen we commenced breeding five and thirty years ago, 
we did as many have done since. We had at the start half a 
dozen kinds of fowls upon our premises. Within two or 
three years we had a dozen varieties — such as they were. 
Then came the " Cochin Chinas," the " Shanghaes," the 
" Brahmapootras " so called, the " Plymouth Rocks," (which 
we exhibited in Boston in 1849,) and then the "Cochins" 
(or Shanghaes) of all colors. These were bred by them- 
selves, or together, for some years as everybody in those 
days bred fowls. And a " motley crew " we had around us 
as early as in 1848. 

But when the " Gray Shanghaes " — thoroughbred from the 
start — came into our hands, from which superb native 
Chinese stock hqive descended the noble Light and Dark 
" Brahmas " of later days, we began to cultivate them in 
their purity, and subsequently bred them thus for many years, 
to profit and great satisfaction. 

Thus, our long experience with one pure variety has taught 
us how important it is — if we would raise good birds in their 
purity of blood, and continue to do so — that we should 
adhere to the course prescribed by natural laws. The day we 
move aside from this wise rule of conduct in breeding any 
kind of live stock, we go astray, and irrevocably. 

Especially will this disastrous result occur in fowl-breed- 
ing — as the principle involved is identical ; and it is beyond 
question that any description of " thoroughbred," to be kept 



14 SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

up to its original quality and purity, must be bred only by 
itself, or with its own species, clean. With foivls, when we 
attempt to cultivate any particular variety, we should there- 
fore as has already been advised, first possess ourselves of 
what is nearest to a pure or clean-bred strain, of the kind we 
fancy for reproduction. 

It will readily suggest itself to the most casual observer, on 
reflection, for instance, that if he desires to breed fine White 
Cochins, it would be altogether absurd to attempt to do this 
through the union of a White cock with Buff or Partridge 
colored hens. He must operate with pure white fowls, of 
both sexes ; and he should ascertain also if possible, at the 
outset, that the stock he purchases is not — and never has 
been — intermingled with those of any other color. 

Now this announcement is not so simple, or so trivial, as 
at first blush it may seem ; for many tyros and amateurs do 
this very foolish thing, at the commencement, even now-a- 
days. And they often expect, from a good white crower 
mated with colored pullets, to obtain white chickens, as fins 
as may be the sire they chance to buy at random ! 

A vigorous thoroughbred cock will impress his chief char- 
acteristics upon the progeny of hens of almost any color, in 
the first brood produced from such connection. But the 
chickens are mongrels, nevertheless. I have seen very fairly 
pointed and good colored Light Brahma chickens produced 
from a prime full-bred Light Brahma rooster, mated to a flock 
of common variously-colored barn-yard hens. Li the second 
year afterwards, the chickens coming from eggs laid by the 
pullets of this cross were like Jacob's coat — of many colors ; 
and no two of either sex were at all alike. There was 
nothing thorough-bred in this process, or product, of course — 
and, in the nature of things, there could not be. 

In these days of enterprise and enlightenment^ the amateur 
in fowl raising who buys and breeds common stock of an 
indifferent or mixed character, will from this produce no 
birds that will afford him the slightest satisfaction, as he 



SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 15 

becomes better informed about the details of the object he 
has undertaken. 

The poultry-cultivator of our time should have a clearly 
defined aim in view, at the beginning ; and if he acquire 
some knowledge of the true principles of breeding fowls, 
before he embarks too largely to invest, or strike out for 
results, he will be the gainer in the end ; and he may save 
time, money and patience, by going forward with his work 
understandingly — as far as may be. 

Robert Bakewell of England, the originator of his famous 
breed of sheep, made a very handsome fortune by estab- 
lishing a standard of his own in thorough-breeding — through 
careful selection and well-conceived mating of his stock — 
which he very cautiously weeded season after season, until 
he fixed his " strain " beyond farther present improvement. 
And we have in America to-day more than one ambitious 
fowl-cultivator, who has by a similar process of determined 
and discriminating judgment in selecting and mating from 
year to year, brought his strain of poultry to the point where 
it is rightfully esteemed " thorough-bred." But they have 
accomplished this only after years of experiment, and by 
closely following Nature's established and immutable law of 
production and pro-creation.* 

This law never halts, it never varies. The progeny always 
resemble the parentage — more or less. And with full-bred 
animals of both sexes, the young product can always be 
identified at a glanee, by the initiated. There are, of course, 
many more secrets yet unknown regarding the workings of 
this law, than all that have thus far been made known. But 
sufficient is determined to warrant the assertion that there is 
but one way to produce " thoroughbreds " of any description 
of men, animals, or fowls ; and this mode is to begin with, and 
continue to cultivate, only thoroughbred stock. 

To produce thoroughbred fowls, then, the leading secret 
of the formula is to procure and cultivate only the best of the 
variety we choose to favor ; and never to mix or amalgamate 



16 SECEETS IN FOWL BREEDING. ' 

these with any other variety, while we wish to have the pro- 
duct coming from them " pure " — bearing constantly in mind 
this patent fact ; that when a fowl (or animal) of any fixed 
breed has once been pregnant to another of a different variety 
and color, that fowl or animal is forever afterwards crossed ; 
and the original purity of its blood is lost, in consequence of 
the connection with this other breed, or variety — as we shall 
more fully explain, in our subsequent pages. 



CLOSE BREEDING, FOR " POINTS," 

Or, what is termed among fanciers " nice breeding to points 
and feather," is a secret, and somewhat of an art, in the 
chicken-raising business. 

After appropriate "mating " and proper " selection " of the 
individual stock we determine to place together for the time 
being, it becomes necessary to the successful production of 
the progeny we desire shall result from this chosen union, 
that great care be exercised towards confining these particu- 
lar fowls entirely within their own quarters ; and that no 
other birds shall have access to their limits during the breed- 
ing season. 

This course is absolutely essential to keep the stock free 
from contamination through accidental " crossing " by birds 
of our own, in other runs, or from connection with the cocks 
of a neighbor. A single deviation from this method may 
spoil a whole season's work for the fancier — in a day. 

There are numerous theories advanced, we are well aware, 
upon this mooted point. Good breeders (in a general way) 
have held that hens are not injured by intercourse with 
males of another variety, if a certain stated period of time be 
allowed the hen to lay out the eggs which may have been 
fertilized by one, before she consorts with a different male. 

But, although we have no positively demonstrated infor- 
mation as to just how many eggs may be impregnated within 
a given period — say in a week or a month, by any one cock 



SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 17 

— yet the experience of the writer has convinced him that 
the eggs so fertilized are limited to a very small number, at 
any one time ; not more than three or four. 

Now to arrive at this decision clearly, involves the expen- 
diture of mucli care and time, close observation, and repeated 
instances of experiment. It can only be accomplished by 
selecting pullets and hens of different ages, alive, while they 
are laying vigorously. These fowls must be slaughtered in 
their prime ; and a critical examination of the condition of 
the egg, and maturing yolks in the oviduct of each bird, will at 
once decide how many, or how few, seemingly have been fer- 
tilized ; as the small white germ of the future chicken (that 
would have been) is distinctl}' discernible in the top of each 
and every yolk that is apparently impregnated. 

Beyond this demonstration, to what extent the "life-prin- 
ciple " of the male may be, or may have been secretly ab- 
sorbed by the female, so as to cause future fecundation in 
other or more immature yolks, (which do not at this time 
exhibit the unmistakable evidence of fertilization), is a "se- 
cret " in fowl-reproduction which no one has fathomed, so far 
as / am informed. 

In oft-repeated instances, however, I have taken hens from 
their nests, when in the act of laying — young and old — and 
have killed and dissected them immediately, to gather informa- 
tion upon this curious and interesting point. 

The editor of the Poultry World in his magazine for 1876, 
upon this topic writes that " a domestic fowl's egg is a curious 
thing. If we examine this conformation critically, to learn in 
detail about its origin, its growth, its mature formation and 
what results from it subsequently, when set upon and hatched, 
no topic in nature is more interesting ; no product of animal 
life is more marvelous to the student of nature, from its 
inception to the moment of the birth of the bird it produces. 
This secret process of incubation is very interesting, and few 
have more than a superficial idea of this operation, which we 
will briefly explain. 



18 SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

" At the close of the third day after the hen is set upon the 
freshly impregnated eggs, the lineaments of the chick's body 
faintly appear. The heart begins to beat the fourth day. 
At the end of the fifth day the wings and brain-globules 
show. The liver is seen on the sixth day, when the bill 
appears also. On the tenth day the feathers begin to show, 
and on the eleventh the eyes appear. On the fourteenth the 
stomach and lungs are perfected. On the fifteenth or six- 
teenth day the bill opens, often. At the eighteenth day it 
' peeps,' and, growing rapidly stronger, breaks from its shell 
on the twenty-first day." 

How astonishing, exclaims a noted Euglish writer, that all 
the parts of an animal's body should be concealed within this 
egg^ and require nothing but heat to unfold and quicken 
them into life — that the whole formation of the chick should 
be so constant and regular that exactly at the same hour all 
these changes will occur in the generality of eggs, and that 
the moment it is hatched, it is heavier than the egg was 
before ! 

Marvelous combination, indeed ! Instructive lessons may 
be gathered from this simple operation, by him who watches 
the process of these manifold but always uniform changes 
and results. Yet there are numerous other wonders " hidden 
from our knowledge in this connection, of which, from our 
limited faculties, we must remain in ignorance." 

There are indeed many intricacies, or secretly-wrought 
operations in the formation of the egg, which result in giving 
us the curious combination which contains the vital principle 
of an animated being. Yet very little is known, through 
actual, thorough experiment, of the details of the workings 
of this natural construction : so wonderful in its origin as well 
as through all its changes, from the infinitesimal vesicle form- 
ino" at first in the ovary, down to the ejection of the perfect 
hard-shelled egg laid by the healthy hen, as may be seen 
through examining the following facts : 



SECRETS IK FOWL BREEDING. 19 

The ovary (or egg-sac) in the fowl, lies just in front of the 
left kidney. The passage from it, outward, is called the 
oviduct. The ovary contains the little globular gerras of the 
eggs that are naturally formed with the early growth of the 
birds ; find are very numerous, six or seven hundred (of 
various diminutive sizes) having been counted in young hens, 
less than a year old. And this gave rise to the theory that 
all the eggs a domestic fowl would ever lay in her life are 
formed at one time, in the first instance, in this embryo state. 

These globules slowly increase in proportions, those lying 
nearest to the mouth of the oviduct enlarging first and pass- 
ing out one by one into the jjassage, as they approach matu- 
rity. When the first or outer vesicle has become near the 
natural size of the common yolk, it is caught in the funnel- 
shaped end of the egg-passage ; and each yolk, as it goes 
slowly down through this flexible tuba, has formed about it 
the albumem or " white " of the Qgg. This substance contains 
fine strong threads in its composition, which hold the yolk 
in its place in the future shell. The membrane that lines 
the shell is then formed, and finally the outer hard shell. 
The "white" of the egg is first formed near the mouth of 
the oviduct ; the membranes, half way down ; the hard shell, 
last, at the lower end of this egg-passage. 

Kill a vigorous laying-fowl any day when a year old, and 
carefully examine the ovary and oviduct. You will find one 
perfectly-formed hard-shelled egg ready to be laid, frequently ; 
then a full-sized " soft-shelled " egg above it ; then a smaller, 
membraneous-covered yolk above that ; then a yolk two-thirds 
size, then half-size, then quarter-size, and, so on (from the 
upper portion of the egg-tube into and through the oviduct), 
still smaller embryo eggs or yolks ; from the dimensions of a 
pea to those of finest mustard-seeds, or less, in bulk. Count 
all you can see, if you are curious, then apply the microscope 
and you may find five, six, seven hundred of these tiny 
vesicles, of various sizes, each of which ^vould have formed a 
perfect hard-shelled egg in time. 



20 SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

These eggs are impregnated in the j^olk after they enter the 
egg-passage, undoubtedly, and before the outer membraneous 
secretion (or whit^) is formed. How many are impreg- 
nated or rendered fertile at one time, is a question not yet 
decided. But the best authorities give as the most reasonable 
answer to this inquiry, that but very few are impregnated at 
the same moment ; and that by the continuous association of 
the cocks with the hens, only, can the eggs laid be rendered 
available for successful hatching. 

A few months after the above article appeared — as the 
result of half a dozen recent careful experiments in this 
direction — I communicated to the "Poultry World" papers 
which cover much of the settled confirmation of my opinion 
upon the question of original egg-formation and its impreg- 
nation^ which I am confident has been hitherto a " secret " to 
most poultry breeders in America, since I have never met in 
print with any account like this ; which so well-posted a 
writer on poultry as is H. H. Stoddard, of Hartford, recom- 
mended very kindly to the careful perusal of his numerous 
readers, as a "point of great interest to breeders and fan- 
ciers." This communication, with its accompanying illus- 
tration, I transfer to these pages b}- permission of Mr. S., 
in the next chapter. 



EGG-FORMATION, IMPREGNATION, ETC. 

The secrets involved in the processes indicated by the title 
to this chapter, are perhaps known less of, by breeders gen- 
erally, than are any and all other minutige connected with 
domestic fowl culture. The following was addressed by the 
author of this book to PI. H. Stoddard, Hartford : 

"Sir: — I was interested in a late editorial in j^our magazine npou 
the subject of the eggs of domestic fowls, their origin, formation, etc. 

I luive frequently experimented upon slaughtered hens and pullets of 
various kinds, and of different ages, with a view to ascertain, as nearly 
as jiossible, some of the intricacies or " secrets " you alluded to, in the 
breeding of poultry. This study has been to me of the greatest inter- 



SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 



21 



est — tliougli, as 
you suggested- 
our naturally 
limited faculties 
compel us to re- 
main in igno- 
raiice of much of 
the wonderful 
economy of na- 
ture, combined in 
the simple object 
to which tliis 
communication 
refers. After 
reading your 
comments, I re- 
peated recently 
what I have done 
many times be- 
fore, with the fol- 
lowing results: 

I took from a 
flock of Par- 
tridge Cochins 
and Brown Leg- 
horns, two hens 
— one two years 
and the other 
thirteen months 
old — upon which 
I experimented 
in this wise. 
(The fowls were 
both laying nice- 
ly, and the Co- 
chui I took from 
the nest, in the 
act of laying.) 

Having h a d 
them killed and 
dressed, I opened 
both carefully, 
cutting from the 
c e n t r e of the 
breast-bone back- 
ward to the top 
of the vent. 




CONTENTS OF EGG-SAC 



Showing ova and partially deve oped yolks; with O^^^yCT de 
tached, "containing three imprepnited yo k,, in ^'P^" /^^Tf^/^*^*'- 
Taken from a laying Partridge Cochin pullet, eleven m.n.h. oia. 



22 SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

I found them rather fat (the two-year old Cochin particuLarlj^), but 
both were " full of eggs " of all sizes ; from one just ready to be dis- 
charged, hard-shelled, to the minutest speck of a globule of pale yellow 
yolk. 

In the lower end of the oviduct or egg-passage, outward, the mature 
shelled egg was formed, which the old hen was about to deposit in the 
nest when I removed her. Above this, towards the sac — in the egg- 
tube — I found four other eggs (yolks) ranging from full size gradually 
down to that of one the size of a boy's marble ; and just at the open 
neck of the passage into the sac there was a fifth, the size of a filbert. 
The shelled egg I broke, and found it impregnated. The first and 
second were completely formed \^or nearly so) ; yolks were also plainly 
fertilized. Beyond this I could discover nothing farther in this direc- 
tion. I then took away and examined the sac itself. 

If this egg-bag or ovary be in a healthy condition, and the fowl is 
laying vigorously, the ova can be counted clearly, at the cost of a little 
patience. This sac covers the embryo eggs. They are to be seen of 
all sizes thet^e also, as well as in the oviduct, en masse. In the egg- 
passage there are never commonly more than three or four at a time, 
slowly passing out, as they mature most rapidly. As you state, the 
whife forms in the centre of the passage, around each yolk separately, 
and the hard shell over all at the lower end of the tube, immediately 
prior to ejection, or laying. 

Now, this hen had laid almost daily for several weeks. She was of a 
prolific race (and so was the Leghorn pullet). And thus we perceive 
how very rapidly the hard shell, and the albumen previously, must form 
in the egg-passage around the mature yolk, since one egg only was 
ready for depositing ; and had she not been killed, the next fully-ripe 
yolk must have been " whited " and " shelled " within four-and-twenty 
hours afterwards, to have been laid as she usually laid her eggs, say 
five in a week, for several weeks previously. 

In this egg-sac I found one hundred and eighteen perfectly formed 
yolks, the size of large peas, and down to that of turnip seed. Of the 
largest, there were seven or eight ; of the medium size, as big as buck- 
shot, there were over twenty ; of the rest, half this size ; and then down 
to those as small as a pin's head and less. These were plain to the 
naked eye, connected together like bunches of grapes, mostly, which 
masses I separated and counted, one by one. Then I took up the three 
or four vesicles attached to the three upper ends of this egg-mass, 
which little pouches (or minor bags) secured each to the mass, are 
flattened, fig-shaped, and are about as large as a lady's finger-nail. 
These are filled with ova again; but the globules they contain are in- 
finitesimal in size. (See engraving, page 21.) 

I examined these tiny sacks, or vesicles, by opening and carefully 
scraping out the contents with a thin pocket-knife blade, and this mat- 
ter I placed under my microscope. Each small sack contained about 
the same quantity of substance, and all appeared like the finest smelt 



SECRETS IN EOWL BREEDING. 23 

or trout-spawn at first, but under the glass the whole became defined. 
The contents proved minute yolks again. I sejjarated these with the 
point of a fine cambric needle (while under the lens,) and then counted 
them — though imperfectly, they were so very delicate ; but in each 
little sack there were nearly one hundred (eighty to ninety) of these 
separate particles, or embryo yolks. 

The hen thus experimented with had laid in 1875, about one hundred 
and sixty or one hundred and seventy eggs. She began late in Decem- 
ber last to lay again, and up to May she had laid over a hundred eggs 
more. The mature and immature yolks found in her, numbered over 
one hundred and thirty, including those in the egg-sac ; while those in 
th© four minor sacks, microscopically determined, would, by count, 
reach, at the least, three hundred and seventy-five to four hundred min- 
iature yolk globules. 

She had laid, in less than two years, towards three hundred eggs. 
She had ,t' 3 yolks formed and forming clearly within her (when slaugh- 
tered) ji five hundred and thirty more, large and small. If these 
were all the eggs which nature would furnish for her natural life, 
tl-jre would have been, in all, eight hundred to nine hundred eggs, 
which this Cochin hen would have laid, first and last, say in four or 
five years from hatching, had she lived so long. 

This conclusion is based upon the old theory that all the eggs a hen 
will ever lay in her life, are formed ( in embryo) at one and the same 
time, in the first place; and that when this "foreordained" quantity 
is all matured and ejected, by natural process, the hen will cease to 
lay, altogether. This may require three, four, or six years to accom- 
plish. But when the ovary is exhausted of the primal original deposit 
of egg-germs natural to its capacity, the hen stops laying ; and though 
she may grow to be as old as Joyce Ileth, no more (or no new) ova 
will ever be generated in her " egg-sack." 

In the instance of the Brown Leghorn, dissected the same day, the 
result was very similar, and will not require to be detailed — except 
to note her age, and the fact that there were a larger number of 
embryo eggs found in this subject. This hen had been laying since 
January, very generously. In the oviduct I found six formed yolks, 
from full size to that of an ounce bullet. In the egg-sack there were 
first massed about 200 globules of yolk, of all sizes ; from that of a 
large pea down to that of mustard-seed. Attached to this main (par- 
tially developed) mass, as in the Cochin case, there were seven dis- 
tinct small closed sacks or bags, one of which, examined under the 
glass, turned out nearly loO diminutive i^articles of incipient ova, or 
minute yolks. 

The other six (of the seven) small sacks were less in size than the 
first; but all were charged with this kind of spawn, still more im- 
pei'fectly developed. But it was evident that there was the founda^ 
tion for a greater number of eggs in the Leghorn, than in the Cochin, 



24 SECKBTS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

had she lived long enough to have allowed them to mature, and laid 
them all. 

The formation of the interior arrangement of the oviduct or egg- 
sack was precisely alike in both birds, however — as it was like all 
others I have examined critically ; that is, the connected mass of 
egg-bags inside the ovary-cover was independent of the sack-lining, 
and these minor bags were strung together ; the largest or most devel- 
oped mass, being near the mouth of the ovary, whence the eggs 
are first sucked out, one after another, into the egg-passage, towards 
maturing. 

A third experiment, which I made at the same time, resulted simi- 
larly, thus : 1 selected one of my own Light Brahma pullets, eleven 
months old, for this purpose, on the day succeeding the previously- 
described cases. She was in fine condition, and weighed before killing, 
9 lbs. 5 ozs. She had laid one litter of about thirty eggs, and had 
commenced upon her second laying, three weeks previous to being 
slaughtered. 

I found in the lower end of the oviduct of this pullet, one hard- 
shelled egg, ready to be ejected ; in the ovidtict (or egg-tube) above 
this, there were three full-sized yolks, and two about two-thirds grown. 
At the mouth of the passage from the sack there were two more, nearly 
as large. Directly inside the egg-sac there were three others — these 
last five yolks being from half-size to that of a ripe Isabella grape. 
Thus, in all, there were nine full and half-grown yolks or eggs maturing 
— separately from the general mass or clusters within the ovary. 

Next beyond these came a first cluster of ova in a mass, twelve of 
the size of small peas, and so on down to that of hemp-seed, or less ; 
numbering seventy-two distinct yolks, without the twelve largest. Be- 
yond this was a second bunch or mass (attached by fine ligaments to the 
others), of lesser size — say from that of a buck-shot, down — number- 
ing one hundred and twenty-eight vesicles. A third mass, still smaller 
in average size, lay beyond this, in the sack, in which were visible one 
hundred and twelve of the yolk globules ; and above these there were 
three minor bunches (or inner sacks) containing undeveloped ova ; 
which latter, luider the microscope, consisted clearly of the diminutive 
pale yellow yolks again, about one hundred to one hundred and ten in 
each sack. 

Thus, in the Light Brahma pullet's case, her first litters numbered 
about one hundred and forty eggs, including those she had laid and 
those found in the oviduct and first cluster, after killing. This, by 
nearly accurate count, would give as the whole number of eggs this 
fowl would have laid (had she lived to discharge them naturally), about 
seven hundred and thirty to seven hundred and fifty in all ; which, I 
think, is under rather than over, the ordinary average whole number of 
eggs to b'e found, in some stage of development, at one time, in the sac 
and oviduct of a full-grown hen, when ready to lay her first egg. 

As in the first-mentioned experiment herein noted, this Brahma pul- 



SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 25 

let had but three eggs, or yolks (the perfect hard-shelled one among 
themj, which I could discover were fecundated. To what extent the 
vital principle of the male may have operated on other yolks present 
in this pullet, or how much of this subtle element injected by the cock 
may, from time to time, or at any time, be secretively absorbed through 
natural reproductive laws by the hen, I think it impossible to determine. 
And I am of the opinion that none of us ever have, or ever can, solve 
this " secret in fowl-breeding," 

The full details of my fourth experiment (upon a thirteen-months 
old Cochin) need not be added here, except to say that, in all particu- 
lars, the result of my experiment was, in this case, identical with the 
other three, with this single exception ; I found in the oviduct, two- 
thirds the way down from the egg-sack towards the vent, a full-grown 
imjjregnated yolk, with the white or albumen half formed around it. 

This yolk contained the opaque white spot at the top, indicating 
fertilization, and around it had formed the albumen in a transparent 
state. Outside of this incasement of albumen, the whole, was inclosed 
in a very thin membraneous sack as fine and sheer as a cobweb, but 
very strong in fibre. The fowl had laid an ^gg the day previous to 
killing, and this one was rapidly approaching perfection, evidently, and 
would have been laid on the day following had she not been slaugh- 
tered. There were- five half-sized and smaller yolks in the oviduct, 
besides this more advanced one ; and this with one other yolk next 
above it in the great tube, only was fertilized, that I could discover. 
The contents of the egg-sac and the sack itself were like all the rest — 
this pullet having, in imperfect ova and more developed yolks of all 
sizes, over seven hundred globules in her ovary ; and she had been 
laying finely for months. 

There is no doubt in my mind of three things to wit ; Not more than 
three or four yolks or premature eggs are ever impregnated at a time, 
in advance. The wliite of the agg is formed around the yolk in the 
egg-passage, or oviduct, and the shell at its lower extremity, in twenty- 
four to thirty-six hours ; and lastly, that all the eggs a domestic fowl 
will or can lay during her whole life, are started at once, in embryo, 
originally in the ovary, be this quantity more or less. 

And finally, I am confirmed in my belief that, however these lesser 
sacks may mature (that is, whether each fully develops from year to 
year, or more than one in a year) no new minor sacks form after the 
first mass is established prior to the laying of the pullet at all. And no 
matter how long she may live, that after all these ova shall be formed 
into eggs and are ejected, she will lay no more. 

The engraving given on page 21 is good. The upper sack — laid 
open, be it understood — discloses the ordinary contents hi a hen's 
ovary when in laying condition and in full health. The lower portion, 
from the neck of the ovisac to the cloaca, is detached, and shows its 
funnel-shaped mouth at top. Below this runs the irregularly-formed 



26 



SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 



tubular oviduct, in which the egg-yolks mature and drop slowly down 
this passage, as they enlarge and ripen before reaching the lowest point. 
In this extreme lower duct, which is naturally dilated to hold the 
fully-formed shell as it enlarges, the latter is completed ; and when 
ripe, the egg is excreted, in its hard white covering, from this cloaca, or 
final receiver, and dropped into the nest. 

I have this year tested another experiment, thus : I reserved from my 
Light Brahma flock of 187o pullets, one late fowl that had never been 
associated with a male bird at all. She began to lay at seven and one- 
half months old. When she had laid about a dozen eggs, each one 
of which I broke and found unfertilized, I killed and dissected her. 

In her oviduct I found a mature 
egg ready to be dischai-ged that 
day, and two other yolks nearly 
grown. Above (in the upper end 
of the egg-passage) I found two 
other yolks as large round as a 
small walnut. But not one of 
these four yolks showed the im- 
pregnated white spot to be seen 
in all the mature yolks found in 
the other slaughtered birds de- 
scribed. Of course I did not ex- 
pect to discover this demonstra- 
tion, since no cock had ever been 
permitted to associate with this 
hen. 

But what I did ascertain, con- 
vincing to my mind, was, that the 
indication of fertility of a fowl's 
egg is apparent only when this 
white speck is to be seen at the 
outer edge of the yolk ; a circum- 
stance which has for years been 
declared by many writers to be 
uncertain, or of no consequence. 
I maintain that whenever this 
clearly perceptible opaque white 
spot is absent, the egg is worthless 
for setting. It is positively infer- 
tile. The fact of the presence of 

_,, , „ , . f ♦! „ „„„ ^,cf this substance in the yolk, or not, 

The cloaca, or final receiver of the egg, just ■, -, , • i -^i ..i 

before the latter is hiid. may be determuied with the com- 

mon " egg-tester," or by holding the egg to the eye, with a sharp light 
directly behind it, in a dark closet or room. 

I deem the facts here stated on the formation and fertilization of 




SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. li 

fowl's eggs both instructive and concliisive, as well as interesting. Such 
are the results I have reached through considerable care, and from nu- 
merous actual experiments now described. And to arrive clearly at 
these results requires patience, close study, varied experiments, the sac- 
rifice of many valuable birds just at thq time when they are in their 
best trim and greatest usefulness, and some knowledge of fowls, their 
habits, their qualities, and their construction. 

From these accurate statements it will be seen that in no 
instance among the half dozen hens chosen in the full vigor 
of fertility for experiment, did the oviduct contain more than 
four (and most of them only three) apparently fecundated 
eggs, or yolks, when the fowl was slaughtered. And we are 
constrained to believe, from these and many prior similar ex- 
periments and results, that only three or four of the extreme 
outer, or lower yolks in the oviduct, are impregnated at any 
one time, prior to the eggs being perfected and laid. 

Yet notwithstanding all this, there come other indications 
of an important character in our experience, which point to 
the probability that although we cannot see the above men- 
tioned evidence of fertilization with the naked eye, upon more 
than three or four yolks at a time, within the oviduct or outer 
egg-passage — the life-principle of the cock may, as we have 
suggested, penetrate or permeate the linings of both tube and 
sack, imperceptibl}^ Or, by natural absorption, the fluid may 
be taken up by the hen, and it may pass over and around the 
lesser yolks, or even into the egg-sack, where the first masses 
of diminutive vesicles are found, in such numbers, of all sizes. 
And here these latter mentioned undeveloped yolks and ova 
may be fertilized, for aught that is known with any degree of 
positiveness. Still, we know that a white hen, for example, 
bred to a white cock for the whole or part of a season, and 
then bred with a black male for a few weeks, will give us eggs 
that will hatch only speckled, patched, or black chickens, very 
soon after the chanr/e of cocks is made. 

Now, if any considerable number of eggs are fertilized at a 
time (say with the first cock, in the outset, whose chickens 
from the white hen come regularly white, prior to the change 



28 SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

of males) how does it occur that the spotted or black chickens 
make their appearance from this same hen's eggs, laid within a 
week after the exchange of cocks ? Surely no sane man will 
maintain that this white hen's eggs are fecundated twice — or 
first by one cock, and then by the other ! 

Therefore we are again confirmed in our judgment that but 
very few yolks are fertilized at a time ; and these only after 
they pass out of the egg-sack into the oviduct, half or two- 
thirds grown in bulk, and prior to the gathering of the albu- 
men around each yolk, which is found in or near the centre of 
the lower tube, on its way downward to the vent. 

But all this is an unsolved problem. And so we are com- 
pelled to accept what follows the connection of the selected 
male and females, and improve upon this product subsequently 
as best we can — while we may set this down as true ; that 
if we remove the male bird altogether from the hens, after 
the third or fourth yolk is thus fertilized, (and keep him away 
from them,) eggs laid subsequently to that third or fourth one 
will not usually produce chickens during the cock's absence, 
if set under the hen. This we have tried, over and over again 
— with almost unvarying results. 

Now, when the cock is returned to his hens, the first two 
or three eggs that are immediately thereafter laid will also be 
barren, and worthless for purposes of incubation. This fact 
we have determined, from numerous experiments, which have 
aided to show us that it is the nearly perfect yolk that receives 
the impregnation ; and that this occurs before the " white " 
or albumen forms around it, in the centre of the oviduct. 

Durin"" the absence of the cock from his mates, the yolks 
continue to mature as usual, one after another ; but, being 
unfertilized, they must be discharged from the oviduct in this 
condition ; since it is simply impossible to fecundate the hard- 
shelled egg, of course, (when ready to be laid) or the yolk 
above this in the oviduct, around which the solid " white " is 
formed, with its transparent but tough outer envelope; which 



SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 29 

encases the albumen and subsequently unites with the inner 
membrane of the hard shell. 

To be precise, let us observe here that if we return the 
same cock, or as perfect a specimen as he is, of the same 
varie^ and color, to the hens he was taken from, there will 
be no noticeable change in the progeny that comes from this 
reunion, probably. But if we meanwhile introduce in place 
of the original a cock of a different color or breed, the eggs 
laid by the hens within a week afterwards will produce, in 
hatching, a " cross " or mongrel, inevitably. 

If you then remove tliis male, and restore your original 
pure-bred bird to the same hens, within another week the 
eggs those hens lay will give you chickens more or less out- 
wardly like the parentage — at first: but the hens that have 
associated for however few days with the second cock, will 
be thus forever " crossed." And no subsequent hatchings of 
their eggs can ever again be depended on to give you the pure 
blood and plumage of the original cock and hens. 

This reasoning in some measure seems to be paradoxical, 
I know. For, if the changed cock impregnates but a few of 
the eggs, as we assume, how is it that the white hen's chickens 
long afterwards should come black or spotted — when replaced 
in union with her original white mate ? 

This is what I am unable to explain, and this curious secret 
has never yet been explained, in poultry or animal breeding. 
Yet the fact^ as herein set down, remains. This continual 
cropping out of spotted chicks from a white hen's eggs once 
bred to a colored cock, during her entire subsequent exist- 
ence, follows as surely and as inevitably as that she continues 
to lay eggs in her future. And the contamination is never 
eradicated. 

Wliy this so follows the crossing mentioned, we may never 
know. But in scores of instances, from watchful personal ex- 
periment, we have found this result invariable, and certain. 

It may perhaps be appropriately stated here, that the most 
successful result in uniformity/ of production is realized in 



30 SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

breeding from one strain or line of ancestry, direct. A prime 
vigorous cock being selected, (one possessing all or a majority 
of the fine qualities we seek to perjDetuate), and this male 
being bred to a few hens of the same type and the best 
of their kind, will give us in the first progeny very uniformly 
good chickens. 

The pullets among this product, if bred back to the old 
cock, will also give us a majority of good chickens. The 
hens only, for a couple of years, should be bred to the original 
cock, or a cock in the third remove from him. The cocks 
of the first result cannot be used advantageously with any 
of these hens or pullets — for nicest breeding. 

If more hens are wanted, fresh female blood should be now 
introduced ; and one or two of the best cocks from this last 
union may be bred back with the second hens (at two years 
old) to advantage. This plan avoids close in-and-in breeding, 
which is detrimental, always. 

Select from all of your flocks only the best birds, at any 
time. Mate them carefully, for color, and avoid as much as 
possible (however promising individual birds may be) the 
breeding together of cocks and pullets of the same age, or 
those which come from eggs laid by the same hen. Brothers 
and sistei's make but indifferent breeders ; and their chicks 
rarely prove valuable for after mating, at the best. 

But, for the reasons given, we repeat that for close clean 
breeding we must keep our chosen cock and hens strictly by 
themselves, and to themselves. The females should never be 
permitted to receive the attentions of a strange cock, in any 
instance. And thus alone can they remain " jDure " breeders, 
provided always that they are uncontaminated in the first 
place, when mated, as we have directed. 

The real secret of all the blemishes, " sports," discolored 
plumage, and imperfectly feathered chickens produced from 
what are so often purchased for " pure bloods," is traceable 
to the error we have now explained — at some time in their 



SECEETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 31 

lives with themselves or their progenitors — committed by 
previous owners, through wrong management. 

This result follows a law of nature that is immutable, and 
universal, in the work of procreation ; and however the point 
may be argued as to its wherefore, all experience points to 
this result, whenever the experiment now considered has been 
ventured upon, where different breeds are kept by the same 
poultry cultivator. 

If we desire to keep only one flock of hens however, upon 
the premises, we may have a portion of them of non-setting 
varieties — say Leghorns or Black Spanish, for the production 
of eggs, and a portion of pure Brahmas or Cochins, to use as 
incubators. An easily managed plan. 

Breed these with one vigorous pure cock, and set such of 
the eggs as you may choose. The color of the shells will in- 
dicate whence they come — since the Leghorns, &c., are 
white shelled, and the Asiatic:? are more or less tinted in 
color. This obviates the necessity of separating the varieties 
into different flocks (where you have but limited space for 
their accommodation), and a part of your eggs will thus be 
" pure-bred," for subsequent setting ; if the cock and half the 
hens are of the same sort. 

In the matter of crossing fowls, herein explained, it is pre- 
cisely thus with pigeons, with domesticated cage-birds, with 
cattle, horses, sheep, dogs, rabbits — all animal creation. It 
has been thus from time immemorial. It will alwaj^s remain 
so — because the prime laws of Nature are unchangeable. 

Therefore, if we aim to reproduce any given kind or style 
of fancy stock which we hope to see like its progenitors, we 
must not only procure the parentage as nearly in its purity as 
it may be possible to obtain, but — when we get such stock, 
be it poultry or otherwise — we must continue to breed it, 
uncontaminated, from first to last. And this "secret" is 
among the most important of all, in good close breeding. 

That unsightly and annoying excrescence, the " falcon 
hock,"" which has been bred upon Light and Dark Brahmas in 



32 SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

England and sent over to the United States within the past 
seven years, well illustrates our point touching the contamina- 
tion of poultry stock, by injudicious or careless experiments 
in breeding. ^J 

Upon the high-priced fancy birds of the above named va- 
rieties, and also on some strains of English-bred Buff and 
White, as well as Partridge Cochins, this execrable deformity 
made its appearance among the importations of Messrs. Her- 
stine. Van Winkle, Philander Williams and others, a few 
years since. 

They bred and disseminated this stock here until it came to 
be an eye-sore in hundreds of American yards. The new 
Standard first declared this hock " highly objectionable," and 
then pronounced it a " disqualification " for exhibition birds 
— and justly, too. 

This " secret " has cost them many good dollars to learn, 
and more than one ambitious American fancier has now dis- 
covered that it was far easier to put this beastly hock upon 
the shanks of his otherwise good Asiatics, than it is to work 
it off again, when he desired ! It can never be altogether 
eradicated, where it once exists. And for this reason, a fal- 
con-hocked bird should never be used as a breeder. 

A very desirable " secret " to acquire is a knowledge of the 
successful mode that may induce fowls to lay well. Indeed, 
if it were possible to adopt any system that might tend to 
effect so important a result, which would " make hens lay " 
more promptly, more generously, and more regularly than they 
do, or might, under ordinary good treatment — the discovery 
would be most acceptable to farmers and breeders everywhere, 
unquestionably. 

We have tried many experiments with this object in view, 
and we have found that both yearling pullets and adult birds 
can be stimulated to an increase of egg-laying for a time, 
very readily. But this is accomplished at the cost of their 
health and their longevity. 

Hens thus forced, unnaturally, will deposit more eggs in a 



SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 33 

given tiine, by thirty to fifty per cent. That is, when fed 
upon stimulating egg-producing food regularly and continu- 
ally, they will lay in a single season a third more eggs than 
they will under ordiniu^ care and feed ; and these eggs will 
be deposited in a shorter period, annually, than if they are 
fed only in the common way. But this increased production 
destroys the birds in a year or two, or renders them sterile, 
after the second or third season. 

Still, hens may be thus forced to advantage, as layers — 
since they may be killed off, after the second year, for 
marketing, when they give out as egg-producers ; and the 
owner will have realized (through such extra feed) in the first 
two seasons of their lives, what he must have waited for three 
years, at least, in the usual course. In this way he will 
get from such birds the bulk of all the eggs Nature provides 
them with — and by slaughtering these, and renewing his 
laying stock, he will save a year or two of feeding to com- 
paratively no profit. 

You " cannot have your cake and eat it, too," in this 
matter, however. And if you force the hens to lay their four 
or five years' supply of eggs in two or three seasons — there 
comes the end. And you gain in time, simply, by this 
stimulating means. 

English poulterers have for years followed this method, and 
various sorts of patented egg-producing stimulants are pre- 
pared and sold largely in Great Britain, as well as for ex- 
portation. These preparations have been found both econom- 
ical and advantageous ; and among our home manufactures 
for this purpose, the " Imperial Egg Food " now made in 
Hartford, Conn., by Cha's. R. Allen, has taken a high rank 
in the esteem of leading American poultrjnnen, who have used 
it extensively in the last year or two, and who uniformly 
certify to its wonderful properities in increasing the pro- 
duction of eggs among their flocks. 

There is no doubt the use of this prepared food, properly 
given, will many times over repay its cost to farmer or poul- 



34 SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

terer, in the egg-product obtained. But we do not commend 
tliis (or any similar method) for use, where fowls are kept for 
fancy, or breeding purposes, strictly. Hens so forced will lay 
many eggs, but they are not the best^or hatching purposes, 
we have found. And it is a settled point that no such 
excessive over-draught upon Nature as follows through this 
stimulating process, can be made without a corresponding 
drawback, in some way, in the health or lives of the hens 
thus fed. 

There is one secret I have myself never yet been able to 
fathom, which in recent poultry magazines I see it claimed 
could be disclosed by some one out West, who affirms that he 
has " discovered" the key to. This is the mystery of the sex 
of fowls' eggs. 

Although as we have stated, none can determine by seeing 
the shell, which sex of chicken may issue from it when the egg 
is hatched, yet it is quite possible, through certain methodical 
management in mating adult breeding-fowls, to obtain from 
their eggs a majority of one sex or the other, in the product. 

A few years ago, a whole season's hatchings of Light 
Brahma chicks in our own yards — numbering nearly six 
hundred birds — yielded us three-fourths cockerels. And that 
same year, a score of our patrons to whom we sent eggs for 
incubation, reported like results. "All cocks, no pullets, 
scarcely," they declared. 

Next season we changed the matings in our breeding-pens, 
entirely ; and for a year or two had average good success, so 
far as the sex of our birds was concerned. 

In 1874, we bred over four hundred chicks, in conjunction 
with Mr. Weymouth, and that year we raised less than forty 
cock-chickens, all told. About eighty-five per cent, proved 
pullets ; some were fine, most of them fair, only. 

Individually, we do not deem it of consequence to know 
(if we could) what are to be the sexes of the chicks we may 
produce — since Nature herself regulates this thing pretty 
evenly, ordiuax'ily. But if in mating fowls for breeding, we 



SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 35 

put together birds of the two sexes that agree well ; who 
incline to enjoy each others' society ; and if we keep them 
quiet, peaceable, free from alarm by day or by night ; if they 
are well fed, and cared for systematically — a large majority 
of pullets will be the result of such unions — each sex taking 
kindly to their nominal "affinity," during the breeding 
season. 

If, on the other hand, we jDlace strange birds together ; or 
introduce imperious abusive cocks among the pullets ; or 
cultivate noisy uneasy spunky hens, of the virago tribe , or 
have either sex that are vicious or towering in temper and 
habit — or quarrelsome and unhapj^y, during the periods of 
co-habitation — the issue from the eggs of such ?M/s-raated and 
mis-matched fowls will be codes, seven times in ten, out of a 
thousand hatched from stock thus injudiciously placed in 
compulsory union together. And this secret we have proved, 
over and over again, in our experience. 

But it is unnecessary to enlarge upon this topic, here. No 
man can tell positively which contains one or the other sex, 
from any outward indications. All the numerous experiments 
tried with this or that shaped egg, with a view to discover its 
sex, upon any hypothesis whatever, have been and will be 
totally fruitless. 

We have had the old theory that roundisli smooth shells 
hold the pullets, and that the long or pointed ones will hatch 
cocks. This was found to be a fallacy. Tlien we had the 
air-bag theory, at one side or other of the shell-ends — which, 
incHning right or left, indicated one sex or the other, sure. 
This proved to be utterly valueless, as a guide to this secret. 

Then a writer set forth the idea a few years since that 
weight (for size) was a positive thing ; the heaviest fresh laid 
eggs containing cocks, and the light ones, (from the same hens 
or breed), holding the embryo pullets. This assumption 
turned out to be nonsense. 

Then came the novel plan of an Englislnnan, who affirmed 
that if the eggs were dropped into a vessel of tepid or blood- 



36 SECEETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

warm water, soon after they were laid, a part would sink with 
the large ends turning downwards. These would hatch cocks. 
Those that turned small ends downward, held females germs 
— he declared. Thousands of eggs were set upon this 
recommendation, but no one ever succeeded in determining 
anything, through this stupid proposition. 

Then the discovery was made by a Yankee that if you 
gathered your fresh laid eggs in a straw hat, (it must be a 
straiv hat) and shook them up vigorously, those found at the 
top of the mass and set, would give male birds, while all 
underneath would be found to contain pullets. 

Either one of these modes of discovery is quite as certain as 
the other ! And when we are able to determine from outward 
demonstrations prior to birth what is the sex of the mare's 
coming foal, the cows' approaching calf, the ewe's maturing 
lamb, or the unborn child in the woman's womb — we may be 
able possibly to guess what the sex of the chicken is, in the 
un-hatched egg. 

This is one of the " secrets " (whatever quacks may promise 
to develope), which we opine will forever remain unrevealed 
to the most ardent experimentalist in our humble profession. 
And all we can ever know, as to whether an egg will produce 
a cock-chicken, or a pullet, we shall ascertain satisfactorily 
only when the bird bursts its little shell-prison, and reveals the 
fact in propria persona. For an Qgg is only an Qgg. And, 
whatever theorists or pretenders may assume regarding this 
" discovery," gentle reader — pray don't you forget this 
simple fact. 




SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 37 

FACTS AGAINST SPECULATIONS. 

In a foot-note to page 12 of the present edition of this work on the 
" Secrets in Fowl Breeding,'" we briefly allude to a criticism which Mr. 
I. K. Felch (in his lately published '■'■ Amateur's ManuaV) has thought 
proper to make upon the principle we have for years been clearly satis- 
fied was the triie one, regarding the contamination of a female animal 
or fowl, by an accidental or intentional temporar}^ union with one of the 
023posite sex that is of a color or variety not its own. 

In response to that criticism, the author of this volume sent to the 
" Poultry World," in October 1877, a paper which explains itself, and 
which is inserted here, substantially, in support of my position set forth 
in this work, to the effect that *' the fancier who desires to breed fowls 
for competition at our Public Shows, or for sales of modern improved 
poultry breeding-stock — must permit no amalgamation of varieties upon 
his premises. For, the week he attempts this folly, the flocks he thus 
tampers with are contaminated, and can no longer be talked about as of 
pure blood." 

Mr. Felch objected to this, in his book. And below I transfer to 
these pages what I had to say in support of my doctrine ; which so 
pleased the great mass of breeders, that since its publication I have re- 
ceived scores of complimentary letters from all directions, ajiproviug 
my theory ^?^ toto, and in many cases offering me the details of their 
own personal experiments in support of my assertions — the result of 
which, with poultry, have proven to their satisfaction, beyond a shadow 
of doubt, that I am correct and that the opposite assumption is utterly 
fallacious. The article mentioned was published under the title that 
heads this chapter, and was as follows : — • 

II. II. Stoddard, Sir : — Mr. Felch, in a little book entitled the 
" Amateur's Mamcal," which he has lately published, alludes to one of 
my new volumes, thus : — " There is no chance, as the author of ' Se- 
crets in Fowl Breeditig' asserts, for the dam (hen) to be contaminated 
by a chance connection with a male not of her breed." And " there 
can be 7io grounds for belief that a dam copulating with a sire of a dif- 
ferent breed, has lost her purity of blood." And "we do not wonder 
(if he believe this) that he asserts, in the commencement of his work, 
that we have no absolutely thorough-bred fowls." And, he adds, "there 
can he no contamination of the blood, or breeding of the dam, from this 
cause," etc. 

I was rather surprised at this doctrine from Mr. Felch. But, let 



38 SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

1 

US see. I cite below some twenty good authorities and scientists, whose 
many practical personal experiments in breeding are here truthfully re- 
corded, who " believe " what I do, and what I have pmved, beyond a 
possible doubt ; that this '• assertion " of mine in " Secrets " is the only 
true doctrine, and the only possible result that can follow a connection 
of a human being, an animal or a fowl, of one variety or species, copu- 
latino- with that of another sort, color, or species. It is Nature's uni- 
versal law. And this is constant, unchangeable, unalterable, immutable. 

I doubt if he can point to a single case on record, where any female 
fowl or animal has been thus ci'ossed "by chance" or in any other man- 
ner, with a breed and color not its own, that ever recovered its original 
purity, subsequently. In support of this (my) doctrine, I briefly refer 
Mr. Felch, and those who " believe " in his utterly untenable specula- 
tions, to the following facts and authorities, upon this subject. 

Messrs. Corbie and Botard tried many experiments with pigeons, in 
this way — and they found that not in a single instance, after the first 
crosses of Carriers upon Nuns, and vice versa (male and female) could 
they obtain, from returning to the origmal stock, a single pure-colored 
or feathered bird from either of the once so-crossed varieties. 

Mr. Darwin, in his " Variations in Plants and Animals " (a most ex- 
haustive work on this point), lays down this principle: " The reproduc- 
tive system is highly susceptible to changes in the conditions of life. 
But, among the rays of light which we may catch on this subject, this 
is an important one, namely : the clearly apparent influence of the male 
frst having fruitful intercourse with the female, upon her subsequent 
offspring bred from other males." 

This principle is cle;irly demonstrated every season in the year, among 
breeders of horses, cattle, sheep, swine, rabbits, dogs, etc., and it has 
been practically decided by Moubray, by Botard, by Bakewell, by 
Corbie, and by numerous other scientists, in experimenting with fowls, 
birds and pigeons. 

Mr. James McGillivray, a noted Scotch veterinary surgeon, has stated 
very sensibly that '• when once a pure animal of any breed has been 
pregnant to an animal of another breed, such pregnant animal " (and I 
say fowl) 'H's a cross forever ; incapable of ever producing pure progeny, 
afterward, from or of any breed." 

Sir Edward Holmes relates this fact : " A young chestnut mare, 
seven-eighths Arabian blood, belonging to the Earl of Morton, was 
covered by a quagga (a kind of African wild ass), by way of experi- 
ment. The (juagga was marked like a zebra, and the hybrid colt was 
similarly colored. The mare was thus served but once — in 1815. In 
1817, 1818, and 1821, two, three and six years afterward, the same 
mare, from a full-bred black Arabian stallion, had three colts, and aU 
bore the unequivocal bars and markings of tlie quagga, though the mare 
had not seen him since 1815. 

Mr. Tegetmeier, noting the changes that occur frequently in crop- 



SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 39 

pings-out of sti'ange-colorcd plumage upou what are esteemed " pure- 
bred fowls," refers to them as instances of reversion to a color or char- 
acteristic jiossftsed by some ancient progenitor of the family — to whicli 
they " throw back." 1 contend, in such cases, that ihe quagga has been 
round, where these " pure " fowls have had their runs, at some previous 
time — we wot not when. 

What is known, nowadays, as the pure Himalayan rabbit, is of a snow- 
white skin, with black ears, nose, tail and feet; and it produces its like, 
very accurately. Yet this race is known to have been made by a union 
of silver-gray rabbits. But, if the Himalayan doe be covered with a 
sandy or drab-colored buck, silver-gray rabbits are the product. An ev- 
iderfc "reversion" to one of the Jirst parents, again — as in the case of 
the strong-blooded quagga. 

Six years ago, I 2:)ublished my " New Poultry Booh" in which there 
is a chapter on this breeding-for-purity question. Mr. E. W. Barnes, 
of Plymton, read it, and three years ago he allowed a neighbor's Brown 
Legliorn cock to pass three days among his pen of eight' one-year-old 
Light Brahma pullets, " for experiment's sake," he said. The Brown 
Leghorn cock was removed, and he has never once had anything on his 
premises since, but the Light Brahmas of both sexes — "pure." From 
the eggs set within a week after the Brown Leghorn cock was sent 
home, a third of the chicks when hatched, came brown, speckled-brown, 
or patclied with brown, that same summer. Out of the eight hens, he 
saved four (whicli were alive a year ago), and last season — • two years 
after the Brown Leghorn cock was dead — more than one-quarter of 
Mr. Barnes' chicks, bred from the old IJght Brahma hens, with a Light 
Brahma cock only, since, came spotted, specked, and splashed with 
hrown feathers. Mr. B. is satisfied that the quagga has been there ! 
And so am I. 

Mr. Goodale of Maine, author of " Glimpses of Physiological Laics 
involved in the Reproduction of Animals," etc., cites many cases in point, 
thus — in brief: " In several foals bred in the English Royal stud, got 
by the famous horse ' Acteon/ there appeared unmistakable marks of 
another stallion called ' Colonel,' of a different style and color. The 
dams of these colts, it was found, had all been bred to the ' Colonel ' a 
year or two previously. ... A colt got by ' Laurel ' so reseml^led another 
horse named ' Camel.' that it was rumored that the foal must be ' Cam- 
el's.' It was ascertained that the dam had been served by ' Camel ' the 
previous year. . . . Alexander INIorrison had a fine Clydesdale mare 
served by a Spanish ass, and produced a mvile, in 1843. She afterwards 
had a foal by a full-bred horse — but this second colt was very much 
like a mule, and, at a short distance, was taken for one. His ears were 
D 1-2 inches long, and he stood over 16 hands high. lie was a fine an- 
imal and highly prized. But his mother never got rid of the impress 

the- Spanish ass made upon her j^'ogeny, then, or afterward An 

Aberdeen heifer in Forgue, was covered by a Teeswater bull, which 



40 SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

produced a fine cross-calf. Next year, this same cow was served by 
one of her kind — a full-bred Aberdeenshire bull. The product was a 
cross, again. At two years old it had long horns — %hile both the 

' Aberdeen ' parents were hornless animals In the instance of 

sheep-crossing, Dr. Wells, on the Island of Grenada, had a flock of ewes 
served by a ram procured for the purpose. The ewes were tokite and 
woolly. The ram was of a chocolate color, and long-haired like a goat. 
The lambs came much like the male })arent. Next year, and after- 
wards, the Doctor brought a white woolly ram to the island, precisely 
of the breed of his ewes. But the lambs continually showed the dis- 
tinct marks of resemblance, iu the chocolate color and hair of the first 
ram — for years afterward — though bretl steadily to the white woolly 
buck. 

Mr. Chas. li. Edmonds, of Melrose, a few years ago, had a fine yard 
of Felch's and Burnham's Light Brahmas — among which he allowed 
a Seabright cock to run, for a few weeks. I suggested to him my 
opinion on what I considered this error, and he sold his Seabrights. In 
the fall, his Light Brahma chicks were marked with distinct Golden 
Seabright feathers — and for two years succeeding, this marking showed 
itself on scores of his chicks, from this very flock of Light Brahmas, 
when the Seabright cock had been gone from his premises over two 
seasons. But the quagga had been there once, and left his mark, for- 
ever, on that Light Brahma stock, and Mr. E. sold them out Mr. 

Weymouth's experience with Light Brahmas and a brace of Seabright 
cocks, which he permitted to travel among the former, was similar. It 
took him three seasons to get rid of foul (yellow) feathers in his Light 

Brahma pens, after the Seabrights were taken away Dr. Simpson, 

an eminent physician of Edinburg, states that a young woman, born of 
white parents, whose mother, prior to marriage, bore a mulatto child by 
a negro man-servant, showed distinct traces of the negro in her short, 

curly hair, and pink spots beneath the finger-nails Dr. Carpenter 

writes, in his latest work on physiology, that it is very common for a 
widow who marries again, to bear children most resembling the Jirst 

husband Dr. Harvey affirms that instances are quite frequent, 

among the lower animals, where the offspring show, over and beyond 
the characteristics of the male by which they were begotten, the 
peculiarities of the male by which their mother had previously been 

impregnated The pertinacity with which hereditary traits cling 

to the organization in a latent, masked, or undevelojDcd condition, 
long after they might be supposed to be " bred out," is often remark- 
able. Breeders of Shorthorn cattle know Avhat is called the " Galloway 
alloy." This origmated by employing, for only once, a single bull of a 
different breed ; but it is now traceable iu this modern variety (after 
many years breeding), in the frequent developement of the black or 
" smutty muzzle," in descendants of this " strain.". .... Some years 
ao-o, in the Kennebec Valley, there were a few hornless, or polled cat- 



SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 41 

tie. Mr. Payne Wingate shot the last of this race (a bull calf), mis- 
taking it, in the dark, for a bear. For over twenty years afterward, all 
his cattle had horns — when suddenly one of his old ' cows had a calf 
which grew up without horns ; which Mr. Wingate asserts was the 

exact image of the first bull of that breed brought there I bred 

my pure black Newfoundland bitch " Mona " to a dog of the same 
species — some years since — for nearly a dozen years. When four 
years old, I crossed her with a large brown curly-haired Russian mastiff. 
The pups then came of both colors. Subsequently, I bred her only to 
the Newfoundland. But 7iever, afterward, did she produce a litter, 
among which there were not more or less brown curly-haired pups. 
And mis occurred, too, four years after the Russian dog died. 

The exjierience and opinion of H. A. Mansfield, of Waltham, the 
cautious and skillful breeder of Dark Brahmas, accords precisely with 
my own. In a note upon this very subject, received from that gentle- 
man only a week or two since, he says: " I have just returned from the 
West, and have lately read your ' Secrets in Fowl Breeding.^ You are 
rirjht. I can most heartily endorse what you have therein written about 
accidental or intentional crossing of pure-bred hens with any other vari- 
ety, and expecting them to breed true afterward. I attribute my own 
success to the fact that I never keep any fowls on my 2)remises but the 
Dark Brahmas ; and the worst that can befall my stock (in this resj^ect) 
would be the possible access to my breeding hens of an inferior cock 
of the same variety. This I guard against by never allowing any but 
my best cocks to come near my hens." 

Mr. Mansfield then adds ; " A bit of personal experience on this 
subject comes to my mind, as I write you this. I once bought a fine 
looking Dark Brahma hen of a man who also bred Light Brahmas. Her 
form and color were very good, and I mated her to no less a bird than 
' Old Waltham,' a superb Dark Brahma cock, as you know. I saved 
her eggs carefully, and set them. The result was the hatching of 
sixteen chicks — eight cocks and eight pullets. One pullet was almost 
wldte, and the entire brood proved worthless — this choice, well- 
appearing Dark Brahma hen having, unmistakeably, been crossed by the 
former owner's Light Brahma cock. She was bred from imported 
stock, but had been ruined, for clean pure breeding, thus carelessly. The 
hen and chickens were killed and eaten. At that time, this hen was 
claimed to be ' of the best stock in America.' Since then, I assure you 
I have been very careful about introducing a strange bird into my runs ! " 
I could go on, almost interminably, with instances of this cliaracter, 
all " truthfully recorded experiments " — which Mr. Felch so accurately 
declares, in the preface of his book " are of far more value than any 
theory, however forcibly presented ; " although in the body of his book, 
he also writes that " there can be no chance, as the author of " Secrets 
ill Fowl Breeding " asserts, for the dam to be contaminated by a chance 
copulation with a male not of her breed ; " and again, that " there can 



42 SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

be no contamination of the blood or breeding of the dam, from this 
cause," etc. 

My article is too lengthy, I am aware. But, with this I have begun 
and finished my controversy with Mr. Felch, on this question. I antici- 
pate what he may argue, however, to wit : that a fowl is not a human 
being, a horse, a cow, an ass, a dog, a sheep, or a mule. Very well. 
Has the Almighty ordained one rule for men, and animals, and another 
for poultry, in this principle of breeding ? I think not — indeed ! 

Still, what of the results with pigeons and fowls, as recorded by 
Messieurs Botard, Corbie, Mansfield, and by Messrs. Edmonds, Barnes, 
Weymouth and myself — all based upon actual, repeated, studied, ])v^c- 
tical experiments with poultry ! Do these, too, go for naught against 
Mr. Felch's speculative theory ? 

If so — so be it. 

But I conclude with this " assertion," now made for the first time. 
I practice wliat I preach. This is my doctrine as set forth in my books, 
and as I perform it in my poultry-yards. I knoiv it to be correct, and I 
haven't time (at my age) to try the recommendations Mr. F. proposes to 
amateurs ; which I consider erroneous, and simply encouraging to a 
recklessness in breeding which, though Mr. F. may preach it, he dare not 
practice in his own runs. Or, if he means what he says, when he 
asserts, in his book, that " there can be no grounds for belief that 
a dam, copulating with a sire of a different breed, loses her purity of 
blood" (as I positively affirm she does — in which "assertion" lam 
backed by Darwin, Bakewell, Surgeon McGillivray, Secretary Goodale, 
Messieurs Corbie and Botard, Dr. Wells, Dr. Simpson, Mr. Payne Win- 
gate, Dr. Harvey, Mr. Alexander Morrison, the Royal Keeper of the 
Horse in England, Dr. Carpenter, Messrs. Barnes, Weymouth, Mans- 
field, Edmonds, and a host of others whom I cannot mention here, for 
want of space, and confirmed by more than a quarter of a century of. 
actual personal experience), will Mr. Felch venture to test his own 
theory practically ? 

Will he introduce, for one week, or less, say a good, vigorous, 
thorouglibred Brown Leghorn cock to a pen of the lauded Light Brahma 
descendants of "Lady Childs," "Duchess," "Princess," "Vesta," 
" Lady Mills " (which latter hen, he says, had only one-fourth Burnham 
blood in her veins!), "Autocrat Belle," "Maud Williams," — or any 
of these — and, next year, after the Brown Leghorn Cock shall have 
been slaughtered, and he has steadily bred the same hens to a pure 
Light Brahma cock for a twelvemonth, give the American poultry 
fraternity a " truthful record " of the result of this experiment ? 

I guess not! For, his " i)ure j^edigreed " Brahmas thus treated (and 
he knows this fact as well as I do), would surely throw chickens ringed, 
streaked and speckled, then, and for all succeeding years of their exist- 
ence, however subsequently mated." This is my experience. 



SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 43 

TO PRODUCE PRIME SHOW BIRDS. 

Fowl fanciers who aim to produce the finest samples for 
competition in the public exhibition rooms, annually, have in 
late years made up a large majority of American breeders of 
the higher grades and varieties of " thoroughbred " poultry. 

The cultivation of prime specimens, with this view — 
sometimes only a trio or a dozen in a place — has been the 
studious work of skilled amateurs or more experienced fanciers 
for years in succession also, in this country. 

Other advanced breeders have imported good samples of 
various kinds, with which they have entered the arena of 
competition, and frequently borne away the palm as breeders 
or owners of the favored fowls. 

In addition to these two classes of winning " fanciers," 
there have been many larger American poulterers who have 
shown superior stock of their own raising, which have 
deservedly won leading prizes for the best in our show rooms, 
season after season. 

But there are " secrets " about raising such successful show- 
fowls, which all who undertake to accomplish this thing have 
not yet compassed. And some of these " points " we propose 
to explain, to the best of our ability. 

We have cultivated a great many superior fowls in our 
time ; and in years past we have been very successful in the 
exhibition-rooms, amongst lively competitors ! 

We entertain no doubt that most of the fowls imported 
from China or from Europe — after careful manipulation and 
domestication under skillful hands in America — are greatly 
improved upon the originals, in the progeny we produce. 

Evidence of this is furnished in the fine Cochins among us 
of various colors, and in the Brahmas of late days ; the 
original stock of all which varieties came from abroad, and 
which, after being bred in the United States a few years 
skillfully, have been sent to England and other countries 



44 SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

hence, admittedlj'- the finest samples of poultry in the world, 
as we are all aware. 

And this very stock again, first so improved among Amer- 
icans, has subsequently been farther improved upon in Eng- 
land ; and the progeny of our own productions here (raised in 
Great Britian) have once more been returned to us, British- 
branded, in many an instance still better than those we have 
supplied the material for in the first place, from American 
cultivated flocks. 

Noting this advance made through careful handling and 
judicious mating, on both sides of the Atlantic, from year to 
year — our most ambitious fanciers continue to aim for 
improvement upon all previous efforts. And it may be safely 
assumed that, in 1875 and '76, at the principal public Amer- 
ican exhibitions there were displayed in quantity and quahty 
the best pens of show-fowls ever seen here, yet — of the 
leading varieties. 

The attainment of this high standard of excellence has been 
effected only through studious and well-considered experiments 
in breeding. Certain " strains " of prime stock have been 
pretty well established, and these have been sought for largely 
in all quarters, at liberal prices, in consequence of their 
popularity. 

These birds and their progeny, when properly selected and 
cautiously mated, have produced other good samples which 
have proved winners, and subsequently fine breeders, of their 
kind. Yet these very birds that have frequently been named 
" first " or " second " prize-takers in our shows, amidst strong 
competition, have disappointed the purchasers of the leading 
favorites, who have paid round figures for, and attempted to 
breed them, afterwards. They have \>^q,yv' mated wrongly in 
the show-pen, as to color or points, or both ; and the buyer 
of these showy fowls has found that they would neither pro- 
duce their hke, nor were they equal to the production of 
chickens in many respects so fine as were the " premium " 
birds, themselves. 



SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 45 

This has been occasioned through no fault on the part of 
the owner, who may have been inexperienced in this nice 
matter of the proper mating of birds for breeding. It cer- 
tainly was no fault of the purchaser, who was not posted as 
to this " secret " in chicken-breeding. 

Yet the man who publicly shows such superior pairs or 
trios of fowls in competition now-a-days, or who offers them 
for sale at extravagant prices for breeders., (and which novices 
in the art take for granted are aU right for this purpose) 
should exercise more discretion in tlie mating of his stock 
— for Jiis own interests in the future, if for no other reason. 

And we do not question that the time is not far distant 
when well-informed judges will be found in our show rooms 
who will give large consideration to this important point of 
the proper mating of birds in the exhibition pens, when they 
award their premiums to " the best " fowls, for breeding 
purposes. 

If we take such an apparently nicely matched trio of Light' 
Brahmas, for example, (or any similar parti-colored fowls) 
all having well defined dark neck-hackles and saddle feathers, 
and breed these three together, we shall get from them pul- 
lets with black-spotted backs, and still blacker and more 
distinct dark neck-hackles ; while the cocks will grow darker 
and darker, annually, (from such selections) until they are 
splashed all over with black patches, from crown to tail-coverts 
and flanks. And this continuously. 

If, on the other hand, we select the dark-hackled pullets, 
and a ZiV/Ai-hackled cock for breeding, we get a majority of 
evenly-marked cocks and nicely " pencilled " neck pullets, in 
the progeny. Or, if we choose a dark-hackled cock, to place 
with extreme light-plumed pullets or hens, a similar medium 
result occurs in the plumage of the chickens bred from this 
only joroper mode of mating. 

To attempt to breed good even-colored chicks from a clutch 
of parti-colored fowls all light-hued, or all dark-plumed, is 
folly, if we seek to produce the " happy medium " color so 



46 SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

generally desirable. And this mode of attempting the pro- 
duction of future exhibition fowls, even from the beautiful 
" first premium " specimens we often so greatly admire in the 
show rooms, will invariably prove abortive. 

YoLi cannot breed their like from birds of this uniform 
extreme color. Yet how common is it, how universal, almost, 
to meet with only the dark-necked cock and the clear black 
hackled pullets or hens in the same coop, at shows, which are 
declared by judges and visitors to be " splendidly mated?'''' 

But " matching " is not mating, by any means. And it fol- 
lows thus with all kinds of colored fowls — Brahmas, Games, 
Polands, Hamburgs, Plymouth Rocks, Dominiques, Dor- 
kings, Houdans, Bantams, any parti-colored variety. With 
the Plymouth Rocks, or the Dark Brahmas, black chickens 
can largely be produced, if we but select and mate together 
of either of these sorts the darkest colored l)irds we breed, 
for two or three years in succession. And all efforts to 
obtain even-colored chicks, as a rule, from any combination 
except with one sex lighter-plumed than the other, is utterly 
futile. 

We may otherwise get a few in a hundred that will suit us 
perchance. But the other eighty or ninety will be compara- 
tively valueless, in the esteem of the nice breeder. 

If they would come light or dark, as a ivhAe (in each 
chick) this would do. But they do not show either extreme 
in feathering ; and in by far the larger part they will be of a 
mixed, clouded, patched, or mingled hue — with the white 
where the black should prevail, or vice versa ; utterly disqual- 
ifying either cocks or pullets for any good purpose as breeding- 
stock in their future. 

But this may be obviated with a little common sense and 
fair judgment ; and so time maybe saved as well. In every 
case where these parti-colored birds are bred, no matter 
whose strain they may come out of, be it Burnham's, Felch's, 
Plaisted s, Williams', Comey's, or others, and no matter how 
fine the parentage appears in the show-room, or in the poultry 



SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 47 

papers — in all cases choose for your " matings " one sex of 
lighter plumage and marking than are those of the opposite 
sex you may make use of. 

With colored fowls — like the Cochins, the Leghorns, the 
Games, the Hamburgs, tlie Polands, etc., the methods of 
mating for clean color, of their several varieties, is in no wise 
different from that to be observed with the Brahmas. 

If the union is to be made of black, brown and gold feath- 
ering, the birds possessing the medium shades of these colors 
in the cock or hen, as against the extreme darker tints and 
markings of either, should be mated together — for average 
good results. 

But it is all experimental, with strange birds. When a 
breeder knows his strain, and has brought his leading stock 
up near to perfection, he can tell much more accurately than 
can the breeder who is not acquainted with a particular varie- 
ty, or strain, how to go to work to produce generally satisfac- 
tory results in feathering, and in other fine points. 

It is a study, this. And it cannot be learned in a brief 
experience. The main secret in reproducing good even-col- 
ored pullets, and well plumed cocks, however, lies in mating 
them strictly as we have now suggested. 

Other nice points — such as fine carriage, good size, sym- 
metrical form, well-shaped head, clean comb (of its kii|d) full 
leg-feathering on the Brahmas and Cochins, &c., are minor 
considerations, but of consequence, still, in mating. 

By adopting the careful course suggested as to mating for 
correct plumage, one grand secret will be developed. You 
may in this way succeed in obtaining a much larger proportion 
of chicks of the rigid colors you seek, in the right parts of the 
cocks or hens — and those too that will make the finest show 
fowls at maturity, by odds — so far as beauty and accuracy 
of marking is concerned. 

But there are other desirable qualities and characteristics 
to be sought for, as well as good plumage. " Fine feathers 
make fine birds," it is said. But not alone — in domestic fowls. 



48 SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

And we will next consider how we may best unite these other 
good qualities with that of accurate and correct plumage, 
so as to render show-fowls the most presentable, and really the 
most valuable as breeders. 



NICE POINTS IN FOWL CULTURE. 

The foregoing explanations of the secrets involved in un- 
intentional or accidental crossing of fowls ; as to the probable 
manner and time when fertilization of the egg occurs ; of the 
prime importance of judicious mating of the two sexes in 
breeding to feather ; and how prime specimens may best be 
produced, for exhibition stock — are not to be found (within 
our knowledge) in ordinary poultry books. 

Scores of volumes have been printed, in which are set 
down various " instructions " to the uninitiated, regarding 
what may happen to the breeder, if this or that elaborate 
advice be followed. 

But the real undercurrents and foundation of the subtle 
modes through which nature operates, to produce among birds 
and animals what man admires and aims to imitate, through 
artificial means, are but slightly appreciated by many breeders, 
even in our enlightened day. 

The old-styled duck-legged " Creeper," or Bakie fowls, 
of which few are seen now-a-days, were for many years 
great favorites among our farmers, as layers or sitters. And 
they were most excellent mothers, too. But it was found, 
on account of their abbreviated shanks, that they did not 
make a presentable fowl when dressed, and the longer-limbed 
barn-yard birds were bred upon this variety to improve the 
latter ; which resulted in giving a more desirable shape to the 
common poultry of the country. 

Now, as to form and symmetry, these must not be neg- 
lected in poultry bred for prizes — while other standard 
f cultures and qualities besides accurate plumage must be 



SECRETS IN rOWL BREEDING. 49 

considered, as well; such as color of legs, shape of comb, 
carriage, size and weight, condition, etc. And while we are 
looking to breed feathers nicely, none of these other qualifica- 
tions must be lost sight of. 

The parent-stock should not be too long legged, though 
a good length of shank in Brahma or Cochin jJuUets I have 
never found objectionable. The combs and heads of both 
sexes in the larger kinds are best if small in proportion 
to the average size of the variety. The carriage of all birds 
should be upright and sprightly. A dumpy, sluggish, lazy 
cock, of any breed whatever, isn't worth his feed for repro- 
ductive purposes. Even the heavy Cochins and Brahma 
males should be selected for their vigor and active propensi- 
ties ; and the dull, clumsy, over-grown lunkheads should be 
cast aside altogether, as breeders. 

With the Black Spanish, Hamburgs, Leghorns, Domi- 
niques, etc., there is no difQctdty in making desirable selec- 
tions of males possessing the last mentioned good qualities. 
Use a medium legged cock, rather than one long or short- 
legged, then, of the Asiatics, and an average shanked bird of 
other varieties. 

The color of the legs is important. With the Cochins 
and Brahmas, avoid the inclination to flesh-colored shanks. 
This shows itself, sometimes, upon the otherwise best of 
birds. But it is highly objectionable, and should never be 
bred from, when clean yellow legs can be had. 

The shape of comb is an important item. This should be 
accurately formed, and perfect in its way, as nearly as is 
possible. If it be rose-comb, pea-comb, single-comb, spiked- 
comb, or whatever belongs to the variety being bred — let 
this feature be fully and clearly developed. With many of 
our best show judges, the fine well turned head of a fowl, 
(especially of the cock), surmounted by a perfect comb of 
its kind, is a strong recommendation in the bird's favor, to 
commence with. 

Condition next. Now let it be understood that " condi- 



50 SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

tion " does not mean fatness, adiposity, corpulency, mam- 
moth size, or enormous weight ; but, literally, condition of 
general health, apparent stamina, natural strength of habit, 
and lively unforced exterior, generally. 

The " cramming " process has long been in vogue in certain 
quarters, and some fanciers deem it essential towards putting 
their fowls for the show room into " good condition " that 
they must stuff them inordinately — hens and cocks — for a 
month prior to exhibition days. 

No more senseless folly than this was ever indulged in ! 
A judge in a poultry show who could not discover the results 
of this foolish trick, ought not to pass upon these Asiatics. 
Yet the folly is repeated every year. 

The fowls are by this unnatural means ruined for future 
usefulness as breeders — though, (as we have observed in 
more than one instance) they have gone the rounds of the 
exhibitions at all points, as show birds. And they have 
sometimes proved winners — but not always — under intelli- 
gent judging. 

After these considerations, come the points of size and 
weight, without reference to extra fattening. The standard 
establishes the limits for excellence in this respect, according 
to the kind of fowl shown. It has been thought by many 
American fanciers that great size among the Asiatics is a 
chief recommendation of merit ; and to this point most am- 
bitious young breeders give a large share of their attention, in 
preparing specimens for the show rooms. 

But this idea that the " biggest rooster must be the best," 
is rapidly being educated out of view, among our foremost 
breeders. And a fifteen-pound cock, or a twelve-pound hen 
(unless other points of excellence be* equal) are not winners 
against fair full weights in birds that clearly possess other 
required good qualifications. 

The well feathered shanks for Brahmas and Cochins, the 
" barred " plumage in Plymouth Rocks, the white or creamy 
ear-lobe in Leghorns, the rose-comb on the Dominiques and 



SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 61 

Hamburgs, the "station" and "hardness of feather" in 
Games, the fifth toe in Dorkings and Houdans, etc., are 
minor reqnisites comparatively, perhaps — because these are 
developments mostly natural to pure-bred birds of these 
varieties, and as a rule, " take care of themselves." The 
absence of these distinctive marks evinces a fault in the 
stock, at once ; and birds deficient in these requisites should 
never be bred from for exhibition purposes, where " pure " 
stock is looked for. 

And here pertinently comes in a most interesting question, 
embodying more than one secret of importance — which we 
will discuss in another chapter. 




WHAT IS A PURE-BRED FOWL ? 

We reply to this frequently proposed query, first, that an 
absolutely pure unadulterated specimen of domestic poultry 
probably does not exist, of any known sort. All fowls are 
made up from the wild originals — ani their descendants. 

The Eastern varieties, themselves — such as have come out 



02 SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

first and last from Asia, China, the Mediterranean, France, 
Enghind, etc., of every description — are but the descendants 
of the early " jungle " races, so far as history informs us. 

We have detailed accounts of the Bankiva, Sonerat's, the 
Ceylon, the Java, the Fire-back, Teraminck's, the Australian, 
etc., imported centuries ago into Europe, and thence to the 
South, to England, to Italy, to Holland, to France, or Spain 
— from some of which descended all the present known 
Games, Cochins, Brahmas, Spanish, Dorkings, Leghorns, 
Houdans, Polands, Hamburgs, Dominiques, Bantams, etc. 
And each of the above-mentioned modern styled varieties 
has been grown, at some period, in a local'd}j which gives it 
its nomenclature. 

The Cochins and Brahmas from China, the Black Spanish 
and Games from Spain the East, or the Mediterranean, the 
Leghorns from Italy, the Houdans and Creve-ccjeurs from 
France, the Hamburgs from Germany or England, the Dom- 
iniques from Holland, the Dorkings from Surrey, Eng., or 
the Bantams from everywhere, (bred down to pigmies from 
the larger varieties) are thus denominated sj^ecifically, be- 
cause, as far as we know, these modern varieties were gen- 
erally first established in the countries from which they are 
thus named. 

In every instance cited above, with the single exception of 
the " ^ra/wnas " (which are an American made fowl) these 
birds are the common domesticated barn-yard variety of the 
country they hail from. And m3'riads of them may be found 
in those countries, in all directions, running about the home- 
steads of the natives or the country peasants, quite uncon- 
scious of their consequence, or their popularity away from 
their own dung-hills. 

Yet ihe%e are what are designated " pure " breeds. And 
so they are — when clean bred — as nearly as any fowls can 
be pure. They breed to feather, to size, to general mark- 
ings, and other specific characteristics. And we call tliis or 



SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 53 

that a " pure Dorking," a " pure Black Spanish," a " pure 
Leghorn," a " pure Cochin," or what-not. 

Now, what must be admitted as a pure variety of any de- 
scription, is that which produces its hke in both sexes, when 
bred togetlier ; and which continues to breed its like, contin- 
ually, without important deviation from the original parentage, 
in color, markings, shape, size, and general features. 

All may be, and many are improved by manipulation and ju- 
dicious handling, through proper selection and mating, from 
year to year. But these cannot be changed from the original 
acknowledged type — in any considerable measure — without 
" crossing," or by the infusion of blood foreign to their kind. 

And this creates another variety — which, from time to 
time, we notice is produced and claimed as " a new breed," 
as in the instances of the " Brahmas,''' the " Plymouth Rocks^'" 
the " Erminets^'''' the " Seabrights,'''' or our latest beautifully 
bred American '•" Crame Bantams'' of different hues and 
strains. 

An instance in point, just here we will notice, illustrative 
of this theory in connection with " pure " breeds, that we 
deem applicable, and which has proved intei-esting — experi- 
mentally — in the experience of some American fanciers. 

Nearly thirty years ago, His Royal Highness Prince Albert 
of England, sent to Hon. Daniel Webster of Marshfield, a 
few "Golden Pheasant " fowls — the first of this beautiful 
variety ever seen in the United States — and of a breed 
similar to that at present kuown in this country as " Golden 
Spangled Hamburgs." (Not the crested " Golden Polands" 
as these others were clean polled.) 

Mr. Webster placed this consignment in the hands of Col. 
Samuel Jaques, of " Ten Hills Farm," Medford, to breed. 
And the Colonel subsequently produced from this pretty 
stock many scores of very accurately bred birds, which were 
sold in later years all about the country, under the name of 
" Golden Pheasant " fowls. 

In 1850 to '52, Dr. John C. Bennett, of Plymouth, Mass., 



54 SECEETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

obtained some of these specimens, and about the same time 
received a few pairs of the white-crested Black Polish varie- 
ty. These two he bred together, and the cross gave him 
crested " Golden Pheasants," which he prided himself on, for 
a time. 

Then he attempted, by crossing the Wliite Leghorn with a 
Black white top-knot Poland^ to produce what he had heard 
of (but never saw), to wit, a 6/ac>t-crested White Polish. 

He did not succeed in this undertaking, however. He got 
patched fowls, speckled hens, etc., but the crest came mottled 
or clouded, only ; never a clean black top-knot, upon a clear 
white-bodied fowl. This would have been a splendid acquisi- 
tion indeed, and would be to-day, if any of our fanciers could 
establish the variety mentioned ! 

Still later, there came into vogue the crested Golden (and 
Silver) Polish variety; and finally the muffed or "bearded" 
varieties — of which an admirable cut of a well bred hen 
stands at the head of this chapter. 

At first we had the plain crested Golden Polish — without 
the "beard." Then the muff beneath the under mandible 
cropped out upon the throat. And now we have both muf- 
fled (or bearded) and plain — of this variety — which are bred 
as the fancy may demand ; and both are rightfully designated 
" pure bred " fowls, because they produce their like with pre- 
cision and regularity from either kind of stock, and throw no 
greater proportion of " sports " or imperfect chickens, than 
do other so-named and established kinds. 

Here we have a "pure" breed (though a new one, for these 
particular varieties have been known in America, but a few 
years) and they came to us from England. Why they are 
called " Polish," is beyond our ken ! Surely they do not hail 
from Poland — nor did the original "Golden Pheasant" 
birds ever see that country. They are English fowls, made 
up by skillful manipulation there; as the first similar Prince 
Albert birds were, and as Sir John made up his famous 
" Gold and Silver Seabright Bantams." 



SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 55 

We cite the above instance merely to show how in this case 
an admitted "pure breed" is accepted as such ; and to afford 
the reader some basis on which to form an opinion as to 
"what is a pure-bred fowl," in a general way — since most 
of our modern poultry varieties are similarly " pure bred," and 
are made up in the countries they come from in a similar way, 
through skillful handling and judicious mating for points, for 
color, for markings, for feather, for crests, for muffs, for 
combs, for fifth toes, etc., etc. 

But the limits of this little work do not afford me space 
to enter more fully into this intricate subject. Yet the secret 
of what " a pure fowl " is, I have thus touched upon, and 
will conclude by completing a general answer to the question 
suggested, as follows ; 

No variety of animal is strictly " pure," one more than 
another ; for instance note our fancy rabbits, our various kinds 
of dogs, or cattle, or sheep, or pigeons. Each comes of and 
from a given type ; and all are altered in color, length of ears, 
shape, proportions, plumage, etc., by local circumstances, 
change of climate, and perpetuation under different surround- 
ings. But all descend from distinctive wild originals. 

Each variety is produced by artificial selection and breeding, 
and the term " pure breed " can simply be assumed in a com- 
parative sense — especially as applied to poultry. 

A cross between any two or three varieties, gives us a 
mongrel ; and only mongrels succeed them in the progeny, 
for years afterwards. The best, the strongest, the most per- 
fect in markings, etc., bred from these, and still annually se- 
lected and cautiously mated, will give us nominally " new ' 
varieties ; " which in course of time can be brought down to a 
fine point in general exterior or fixed characteristics, which 
may warrant their being denominated " a breed." 

The " Plymouth Rocks " of to-day are a case in point, and 
the American Standard accepts them as a distinct established 
variety of fowl. Yet we all know they are a recent cross. 



56 SECEETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

though they are now being bred in this country in many places 
very nicely, and have proved a " decided hit." 

The Light Brahmas we also know come from original 
Eastern blood, and they have bred wondrouslj^ perfect in 
this country and in England, for twentj'-five years. Yet 
that these parti-colored fowls are a cross of the black and 
v/hite fowl of China, at some remote early time, there is not 
a shadow of doubt in the minds of those who know this 
variety best. And the " Brahmas " of our day are rightfully 
acknowledged an American production — because they were 
first recognized in this country, and have from the outset 
been cultivated at their best, and have been improved and 
reproduced by thousands, very nearly like the originals, within 
the United States. 

These fowls are as "pure " to-day as are the Dorkings, the 
Games, the Leghorns, the Houdans, the Cochins, or other 
modern named variety*— and as nearly "thoroughbred." 

Yet, like all others, they do not come absolutely uniform in 
plumage, in comb, in proportions, or in shape. One man 
breeds what he terms a particular " strain " of this breed. 
Another has a strain he calls his own. A third reproduces 
his Brahmas from a family to which lie gives a distinctive 
name, from his early owned sire — as the " Yorkshire Duke," 
or the great " White Prince," or the big-headed " Autocrat." 

And all are pure Brahmas ; that is to say, as pure as are an}'" 
well known variety. 

And so — as to purity of breed — we should secure the best 
we can find, of any chosen sorts. When we get them, we 
must continue to breed them as purely as we receive them. 
By careful selection afterwards from the progeny, breed only 
the best, again, of either sex. And thus we may continue to 
preserve the purity of the " breed " and help to improve the 
variety, from time to time. 

Whatever we do, there will crop out the " sports " and im- 
perfect specimens we so frequently read about, inevitably. 
These should be disposed of in the shambles, or put into the 



SECRETS IN FOWL BEEEDING. 57 

pot. And if we continue to cultivate only THE BEST, we 
may readily obtain enough of these in perpetuation to satisfy 
the most fastidious taste as to their general " purity," and be 
able to supply the liveliest demand in the future. 

The amalgamation of the improved Light Brahmas of dif- 
ferent strains — or the breeding of the Felch, the Burnham, 
the Tees, the Williams, the Comey, the Plaisted, the Todd, 
or the Buzzell strains, one with the other — has been largely 
resorted to in all directions, of late years, by fanciers. 

It matters very little which of these favorites are chosen 
to operate with, so that good, sound, well-pointed, clear- 
colored, fair sized, vigorous specimens be obtained. Any of 
them are good enough — when you can procure the better 
class of samples ; and all these gentlemen have earned a goodly 
reputation for their average productions. 

So it is with other varieties. There are half a dozen strains 
of good White and Brown Leghorns, of prime Gold and 
Silver Hamburgs, of excellent Games,* of thoroughbred 
Cochins, of admirable Dorkings and Dominiques, of beautiful 
Bantams, etc., etc., now popular in this country. But none 
are better than the others — when they are clean bred, and 
carefully manipulated. 



PREPARING BIRDS FOR EXHIBITION. 

There are legitimate means for preparing fowls for the 
exhibition-rooms, which most contributors to these entertain- 
ing annual gatherings have never made themselves acquainted 
with — but which are practiced in England with success, and 
which some few American fanciers have in late years adopted, 
to similar advantage, 

* The Gxme varieties we have said but little about in this work ; as in Part Thkke 
(published in a vulume by itself, following this present treatise), we devote the contents 
exclusively to that widely disseminated and generally esteemed breed. See announce- 
ment at close of this volume. 



58 SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

Amongst the modes in vogue, where the matter is under- 
stood — that of especial feeding^ for the three or four weeks 
preceding the show, is not uncommon. If this be judiciously 
done, no ultimate harm comes to the fowls thus treated — 
though they are not subsequently much benefitted, by this 
process, be it premised. 

A diet of barley and buckwheat daily, for a single feed, 
in the mornipg ; a second meal at noon of vegetables and 
rice or Indian corn meal, boiled in milk ; and a full evening 
feed of whole wheat and sound corn, will make a wondrous 
difference in a bird's " condition " in twenty days' time — 
after ordinary feeding. 

If to the above regimen you add a dry feed of sunflower- 
seed and hemp-seed, between the noon and evening meals, it 
will prove highly advantageous towards glossing the plumage, 
and heightening the color of comb and wattles, for the 
time being. 

All this is artificial, be it understood, and its effects are 
transitory. Very little green food should be allowed, during 
this extra feasting. The oily nature of the seeds will act 
as a sufficient laxative, for all present purposes. The meaty 
properties of the grains mentioned will help the birds to flesh 
up fully, without creating over-much of internal fat. And 
after the exhibitions are over, they can be placed upon 
ordinary rations, or even " short commons," for a week or 
two ; when they will resume their normal condition, without 
experiencing great discomfort or noticeable injury, if you do 
not cram them in this process. 

Another plan in use across the water is the careful wasJiing 
of the show-fowls, the last thing before they are sent to the 
exhibitions. This is a simple performance, when properly 
done, and cleanses the plumage of white or light colored 
birds from all stains and outward blemish, for the nonce. 
It is done by rubbing clean white or transparent soap through 
their first dampened feathers, and then with a stiff brush 
dipped in clear water removing the soap, by moving it briskly 



SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 59 

downward and backward from neck to rump, until no suds is 
perceptible from the action. 

When the plumage is dry, a second careful brushing, or 
combing, will smooth all out nicely, and the bird is thus 
rendered outwardly more presentable. 

But the alkali in the soap, although cleansing, will dim 
the natural lustre of the feathering, unless it is all cleaned 
out thoroughly, at the end of this procedure. When well 
done, this is a good method. If but half done, it is worse 
than nothing. 

After this plumage-bath is concluded, saturate a bit of 
sponge in a concoction of alcohol and olive oil, (well mixed) 
and bathe the comb, wattles, shanks and feet with it. Then 
rub these parts off clean, and the fowl will look fresh, 
healthy and bright, from beak to toes. This last process 
should be performed on the day prior to sending the birds to 
•the show rooms. 

An easier plan to render the plumage glossy and bright at 
this brief forcing term, is to place the fowls intended for ex- 
hibition purposes for a fortnight previously in a roomy cov- 
ered pen, with broadside to the sunlight, and strew the floor 
with clean short-cut new rye-straw, six or eight inches in 
depth — where they should be kept away from the earth. 

Cocks and hens, during this preparation, should not be 
enclosed together ; nor should they ever be shown in exhibition- 
coops without an open fixed parting between the sexes, in 
their cages. Thus their nice plumage remains unruffled, and 
they appear at their best — in December or January. 

Fresh water daily, and plenty of clean dry sand (not ashes) 
to roll in, in their straw-bedded coops, will help to keep them 
healthy and flourishing. 

When the exhibitions are over, let the hens come to the 
fresh soil again, as soon as possible. Put them upon ordinary 
good diet, with the cocks, and they will do well again. 

The recommendations embodied in this chapter are all 
admissible and proper. Every one desires to "put his best 



60 SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

foot foremost " at the exhibitions. And any extra effort to 
place the show stock in its most attractive possible ti'im, is 
perfectly advisable, and laudable. 

It will be found that most of the Asiatic varieties are very 
persistent in the desire to set, if we attempt to thwart them 
in their purpose. I have therefore found it far the best way 
to alloiv theyn to sit for a couple of weeks, on glass or wooden 
eggs. Then remove them, at night, and place them upon the 
roosts. 

Break up their nest, and displace it, next morning. They 
will rarely give you trouble after this. If they do — put them 
upon the grass, in a fioorless open coop, for a day or two, in 
company with a young rooster. They will shortly go to laying 
again. And having had two weeks' rest and quiet, the 
" broody " fever will have passed away. 

This is the easiest way to " break them up," and it requires 
less time to do it surely, than is usually lost in the various 
inhuman modes adopted by novices for this purpose. 



NOTABLE AMERICAN " STRAINS." 

We devote a few pages to what have become known in this 
country as American " strains " of well-bred fowls. 

It may be well to state at this point, that the word strain 
signifies simply a favorite family, or ancestry. Duchess 
short-horn cattle are called the " Duchess strain." Sheep, 
from Mr. Bakewell having established this distinct variety, 
are known as the " Bakewell strain." The Game fowl, as 
bred on the Earl of Derby's estate, was known as the 
" Derby " strain. Some American poultry-breeders claim a 
"strain" title for certain favorite fowls — such as have come 
down from the " Autocrat," the " Duke of York," " Colossus," 
the " White Prince " strain, etc. 

We shall here mention the " Light Brahmas " first, because 



SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDENG. 61 

this is our own original favorite, as is now pretty well known, 
the world over. 

There has seemed to exist a deal of secrecy about the origin 
of this famous breed, but it really comes from Chinese stock 
— the very first birds of this kind ever seen having beea 
shown by the author in 1849 and '50. This stock has been 
largely bred, in all sections, and certain ambitious breeders 
since 1853 and '54 have given exclusive attention to multiply- 
ing this favorite race, and successfully. 

In 1852, I sent to the Queen of England a cage of these 
fowls, then a year old, bred in my yards at Melrose. Por- 
traits of these mature birds (then called " Grey Shanghaes ") 
were published in leading poultry books and papers, both in 
the United States and in England, as were also those of the 
progeny, one and two years old, in 1850, '51, '52 and '53. 
This settles the point as to precedence in date of origin, and 
period of early breeding. 

Mr. Plaisted began in 1853 to breed the noiv so-called 
" Light Brahmas." And since then he has at times produced 
some very good specimens. In 1874 and '75 he bred what he 
called the " Knox-Chamberlain strain," (whatever that may 
be), about which I know nothing, and never heard of, until 
Mr. P. wrote something about it, in the year 1874. 

Mr. E. C. Comey, of Quincy, has for some years bred a 
strain out of his famous "Duke of York" and "Autocrat" 
birds that have proved remarkably fine ; and which have had 
a wide distribution all over the country. Mr. Comey has 
raised from these, and their descendants, hundreds of first- 
class cocks and hens, which have proved subsequent winners 
at our American shows.* 

A later breeder (in point of time) by a few years, is Mr. 



*Mr. I. K. Telch in his recently published "Manual," saj-s that this " DtiJce of Tor^^' 
and '^Autocrat" both came from eggs laid by the Phillips hens — and Mr. Phillips just 
before he died, informed Mr. E. C. Comey that he procured his fine Light Brahmas from 
G. P. Burnham's stock ; the same as that sent by Blr. B. to Queen Victoria. Jlr. Corner- 
had previously stated this same fact to us, personally. 

G. P. B. 



62 SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 

I. K. Felch, of Natick. He commenced with a cock of the 
Light Brahma variety, which he bought for a dollar or two 
in the street, from a market-man's wagon. And with a few 
good hens, said to be of the Cornish-Chamberlin stock, he 
subsequently produced a strain which he calls his own — that 
breed the pea-comb almost invariably, and have proved very 
superior as a general thing — because he has taken great pains 
in their culture ; and through wise selections from his own 
and other fine strains which he has judiciously mated, until 
at the present time the Felch stock is as well known and 
as highly esteemed, for its general good quality, as any in 
the United States. 

Mr. Philander Williams of Taunton, has produced and ex- 
hibited in the last ten years many first-class Liglit and Dark 
Brahmas, and few breeders in this country have been more 
fortunate, or have so well sustained their good repute, as has 
Mr. Williams. 

And scores of other fanciers who have been engaged in 
this speciality for a less term of years than those above 
alluded to, have contributed their quota towards improving 
this fine species. 

In every instance where a notable success has followed 
their efforts, the work of these breeders has been persistent 
and earnest toward the object in view. In this way only can 
success be attained. From the outset these men procured 
the best stock birds they could find, from whatever source, 
and what they esteemed the purest in blood. They bred these 
selections with care, and zeal, and good judgment. They 
mated their stock judiciously, and watched critically for re- 
sults. As changes became necessary, they changed their 
breeders, and infused new blood into those they had experi- 
mented with previously, perhaps less satisfactorily. 

And finally they have brought to a goodly state of perfec- 
tion what they call their own strains — until we now hear 
constantly of the merits of the Felch, the Plaisted, the Wey- 
mouth, the Williams, the Comey, the Todd, the Dibble, 



SECRETS IN FOWL BREEDING. 63 

the Buzzell, or other " strain," which has deservedly its host 
of admirers. 

In a similar way the Partridge Cochins have been perfected 
by such fanciers as W. H. Bracket of Boston, and C. H. 
Bradley of Conn., as well as the White Leghorns of Mr. 
Pitkin of Hartford, and J. Boardman Smith of North Haven, 
Conn., or the Brown Leghorns of Messrs. Kinney and Bon- 
ney of Mass., Mr. Ongley's elegant Spangled Haraburgs, the 
beautiful Pea-comb Partridge Cochins of C. H. Edmonds of 
Melrose, the choice Dark Brahmas of H. A. Mansfield at 
Walthara, the Plymouth Rocks, of F. H. Corbin, Newing- 
ton, and others in Connecticut ; and scores of producers of 
other varieties ; none of whom have made themselves eminent 
save through careful, consistent, devoted effort in the right 
direction, continually, in the production of their favorite and 
popular kinds of choice poultry, at present so well known 
the country over. 

We might mention many other notable instances of first- 
class breeding from what is popularly called original "pure" 
stock ; but lack of space here prevents extending the refer- 
ence. We quote these fanciers because they lead the van, on 
this side of the Atlantic. 

They have acquired some of the main " secrets in fowl- 
breeding " through a love of their occupation, and by active 
intelligence and constant devotion to the pleasant work. 
Through such means alone can we any of us similarly succeed 
in this peculiar enterprise. 



BRIEF ADVICE TO SELLERS AND BUYERS. 

Here we conclude our second treatise, which is offered as a com- 
i^anion volume to our recently published " Diseases of Domestic Poul- 
try" in uniform style with this, by suggesting the following brief ad- 
vice to the seller and the buyer of any variety or strain they may 
propagate, or desire to experiment with. 

Go to head-quarters for these fancy birds, always — and pay fairly 



64 SECRETS IlSr FOWL BREEDING. 

for what you desire, when you seek "the best" fowls to be had. Never 
aim to cheapen the stock you may choose. Good birds, of all the best 
sorts, command leading prices, invariably ; and these higher qualities 
cannot be produced in all of the fowls that even a careful fancier may 
cultivate — on the average. 

Buy such birds from breeders of repitte, who have too much at stake 
to cheat you. No man who charges you the higher figures demanded 
for a pair or trio of the better sorts now-a-days, can afford to raise 
them to maturity, for merely market poultry rates. And when he sells 
at his own jirice, he can much less afford to send you poor birds — for 
this unwise and unjust course would quickly destroy his hard-earned 
reputation. 

The fortunate seller who may have reached that position where the 
public have confidence in his ability to jjroduce such desirable stock, 
and who steadily practices the precepts of the golden rule, will always 
find this mode of dealing with novices, amateurs, or others, the only 
ti'ue system whereby he may continue on successfully in the fancy 
chicken trade. 

This final suggestion is one of the " secrets in fowl breeding " that 
it takes some years of experience to learn ! But, though the last we 
shall now mention, it is by no means the least worthy of every honor- 
able dealer's careful consideration. 



The third volume is now published of same size and form, and is 
devoted to Games, exclusively. 

This is handsomely illustrated with specimens of the finest varieties 
of this gallant race of poultry known in America ; and contains concise 
directions for the mating, feeding, handling, breeding, heeling and 
matching of these popular birds ; together with practical advice as to 
the curino- of their especial diseases, wounds and ailments. 

This last mentioned Avork, published in March, 1877, will be found 
complete in its way. It will be appreciated by the large class of Game 
breeders in the United States, who will find this little book very nicely 
got up, and well worth its moderate cost to any and every fancier in the 
country who is interested in breeding this immensely favorite class — 
the foremost of domestic fowls — and for variety, what is universally 
conceded to be " the noblest Roman of them all." 



mmmmmmamsmmaaummm^mmmmmmi^mmm 

3e»hjeoe: so oasaxTTs. 



.^■^CUiS^^ 



IN 



irfJ 




A COMPANION TREATISE TO 

"DISEASES OF DOMESTIC POULTRY.' 

By GEO. P, BURNHAM. 



MELROSE, MASS. 

1876. 



Copyrighted by G. P. Buknham, 1876. 



SMU 



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